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On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will open the posh new Habibganj railway station in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh’s capital (November 15). The station was refurbished for a total cost of Rs. 100 crore.
The Madhya Pradesh government filed a letter to the Union home ministry this week requesting that Habibganj railway station be renamed after Rani Kamlapati, the region’s 18th-century Gond ruler.
The Madhya Pradesh government’s letter explaining the proposal stated that the renaming of the station will honor Rani Kamlapati’s memory and valor.
Rani Kamlapati was the widowed Gond ruler of Ginnorgarh’s lord, Nizam Shah. With a population of over 1.2 crores, the Gond community is India’s largest tribal group. The Gonds are members of the Gondi–Manda subgroup of the Dravidian language family’s South Central branch.
According to the letter from the state’s transportation department, renaming the station is also in keeping with the Indian government’s plan to commemorate legendary tribal leader and independence fighter Birsa Munda on November 15 as ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas.’
The government will begin a week-long celebration of the Scheduled Tribes’ pride in India on Monday.
The letter from the Madhya Pradesh government came a day after Pragya Singh Thakur, a BJP MP from Bhopal, urged that the station be renamed after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Thakur had been making the demand since July, pleading with the state administration to keep a commitment she made to her constituency’s constituents. Apart from the Habibganj railway station, Thakur wants Islampura to be renamed Jagdishpura, Idgah to be renamed Guru Nanak Tekri, and Obaidullahganj to be renamed Shivpur.
Allahabad railway station in Uttar Pradesh has been renamed Prayagraj, while Mughalsarai railway junction has been renamed Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay junction.