 "Mumbai: Elphinstone Road railway station will be known as Prabhadevi")
Nagpur: After renaming Oshiwara, an upcoming railway station in the Western line of Mumbai suburban railway, to Ram Mandir, the Maharashtra BJP government on Friday passed a resolution to change the name of Elphinstone Road railway station to Prabhadevi. The details for change in name has been sent to the Ministry of Railways in Delhi.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had proposed to rename Elphinstone Road station to Prabhadevi. The proposal was was passed by an all party MLA resolution in the state assembly.
Various political parties have demanded that the names of three Mumbai suburban railway stations be also changed. They are Dadar railway station to Chaityabhumi, Grant Road railway station to August Kranti and Charni Road railway station to Gaondevi.
Speaking about the change in name of Elphinstone Road railway station, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “The residents of Worli and Prabhadevi and our partner Shiv Sena had been demanding for a long time to change the name from Elphinstone Road to Prabhadevi. This change was also approved by the state assembly and we will send the proposal to the central government.”
But this is not the only change in name, the state government has introduced in recent times. The new suburban station between Jogeshwari and Goregaon was to be proposed as Oshiwara in November. But suddenly before the proposal, its name was changed to Ram Mandir. Fadnavis had given a go-ahead to the name change proposal.
In fact, last week, the BJP-led government in Maharashtra has added the “Maharaj” word in the names of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai. Now, CST will be known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) whereas the Mumbai international airport will be known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. The name changed proposal and adding of the “Maharaj” word was unanimously approved by the state assembly.
Fadnavis said that the demand for adding the word Maharaj was pending so long. So, the cabinet gave a green signal and passed the Maharaj word unanimously in the state assembly.
However, the opposition parties have called the decision to modify the names purely political and aimed at attracting Maratha Voters. “The community has organised more than 40 morchas over the last four months seeking reservation, but the Fadnavis government has only been giving assurances,” Congress MLA Nitesh Rane said.
“The Maharaj is our god and the BJP could not gain from adding only the word, Maharaj, in the name. The BJP government is doing vote bank politics ahead of upcoming Municipal Council and Civic polls, scheduled next year,” added Rane.
Situated on the Western Railway line, Elphinstone Road station was named after Lord Elphinstone, who was the governor of Bombay between 1853 to 1860. The Mumbai international airport was earlier known as Sahar International Airport and renamed to Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in 1999, whereas the government had renamed the Victoria Terminus to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in 1996.
 "Zelenskyy warns world of ‘most destructive arms race in history,’ says weapons will decide who survives")
 "US opposes Russia’s bid for UN aviation seat, says Moscow makes airspace ‘more dangerous’")
 "Israel’s Netanyahu vows combined military-diplomatic push to free Gaza hostages")
 "Trump administration to redirect $1.8 billion in foreign aid to ‘America First’ priorities")
 "Zelenskyy warns world of ‘most destructive arms race in history,’ says weapons will decide who survives")
 "US opposes Russia’s bid for UN aviation seat, says Moscow makes airspace ‘more dangerous’")
 "Israel’s Netanyahu vows combined military-diplomatic push to free Gaza hostages")
 "Trump administration to redirect $1.8 billion in foreign aid to ‘America First’ priorities")
