By IANS,
Mumbai : The Congress Wednesday demanded that Dadar railway junction of teh city should be renamed as Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Railway Terminus.
Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) chief Kripashankar Singh said he has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Minister of State for Railways Mukul Roy with a formal demand.
Dadar is the most important junction which serves as the only intersection point of the Central Railway and Western Railway in teh city besides being a mini-terminus for several long-distance trains.
The Congress appeal comes amidst similar demands from the Shiv Sena, Republican Party of India, and the Nationalist Congress Party.
In the letter, Singh has said: “Bharat Ratna Babasaheb Ambedkar was cremated at Shivaji Park (near Dadar). His last remains have been kept at the very place. This place is called ‘Chaityabhoomi.’ Lakhs of followers of Ambedkar visit this place every year and majority of them use the railway facility at Dadar to reach Chaityabhoomi.”
“The followers of Dr Ambedkar strongly feel that the Dadar Railway Terminus should be renamed after him as Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Railway Terminus.”
Chaityabhoomi, at a stone’s throw from the Shivaji Park in Dadar, was the place where the Ambedkar was cremated Dec 6, 1956.
Later converted into a national monument, it attracts millions of Dalits from Maharashtra and other parts of the country on Ambedkar’s death anniversary.