‘Jais Station In Amethi Now Guru Gorakhnath Dham’: Renaming Of 8 Stations In Uttar Pradesh Sparks Row

Jais station in Uttar Pradesh’s Nehru-Gandhi pocket borough Amethi district will now be called Guru Gorakhnath Dham, as part of the Northern Railways’ (NR) renaming of eight stations in Uttar Pradesh. The move has sparked a row, with observers calling it “politically motivated”.

Other than Jais, the Lucknow division of NR has changed names of seven other railway stations, naming the stations after saints and freedom fighters. As per NR’s order dated August 27, Kasimpur Halt Railway Station has been renamed as Jais City Railway Station, Misrauli as Maa Kalikan Dham, Bani as Swami Paramhans, while Nihalgarh Railway Station will now be called Maharaja Bijli Pasi Railway Station. Also, Akbarganj has been renamed as Maa Ahorwa Bhawani Dham, PP Warisganj as Amar Shahid Bhale Sultan, and Fursatganj as Tapeshwarnath Dham.

Samajwadi Party (SP) Chief Akhilesh Yadav has slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government’s decision, stating that the focus should be on improving station conditions and preventing train accidents rather than changing names. “The BJP government is requested to also change the condition of railway stations along with the names,” he said, adding, “And when you are done with changing the names, think about preventing record breaking rail-accidents”.

UP’s political observers and social media users, however, called the move “politically motivated”. “It is not the first time that the BJP government has changed the names of the stations, cities or places. In UP, the name of Mughalsarai city and railway junction was renamed after the name of BJP ideologue Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay. Name of Allahabad has been changed to Prayagraj, a demand to rename Faizabad as Saket is already being made. There has been a demand to change the name of Aligarh as Harigarh, similarly a demand was raised to rename Lucknow as Lakhanpuri,” said Shashikant Pandey, head department of political science Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow.

Pandey said the changes are often done to influence the people and ensure their outreach among the masses.