CST, Mumbai International Airport get royal treatment: Will have 'Maharaj' in new names

Mumbai city will see two of its important landmarks being renamed in the near future. The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, commonly known as CST, which is one of Mumbai’s busiest railway stations, and the Mumbai international airport, known as Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport will be renamed. The names of the railway station and the airport won’t be drastically different. The word ‘Maharaj’, which means king in Marathi will be added after Shivaji. Mumbai’s international airport will now be called Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport and CST will be renamed as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminal.

Before 1995, the airport was called Sahar International Airport and the railway station was called Victoria Terminus. They were renamed after the BJP-Shiv Sena came to power in 1995. The demand for renaming of places across India gathered steam after the BJP-led NDA swept to power in 2014. In April 2016, the Haryana government under ML Khattar renamed Gurgaon to Gurugram in honour of Guru Dronacharya, The Hindu reported. In October 2014, the NDA government cleared the way for renaming 12 cities in Karnataka . As a result, Bangalore became Bengaluru, Mangalore became Mangaluru and Mysore became Mysuru, in line with their Kannada pronunciation. According to a report in DNA , the RSS has also demanded that Gujarat’s Ahmedabad, Telangana’s Hyderabad and Mahrashtra’s Aurangabad be renamed Karnavati, Bhagyanagar and Sambhaji Nagar respectively.