- BJP proposes renaming Kolkata's Sealdah Station after Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee
- Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar urged state to request Centre for renaming approval
- Trinamool suggests renaming Sealdah Station after social reformer Swami Vivekananda instead
The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) are locked in a political battle to appropriate Bengali icons to keep their mass appeal in West Bengal intact ahead of elections next year. At the heart of this fresh tussle is the renaming of Kolkata's Sealdah Station, the busiest railway station after Howrah Station for passengers.
Union Minister of State Dr Sukanta Majumdar, while flagging off the first air-conditioned local train in the city, suggested the state government write to the Centre and rename Sealdah Station as Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Railway Station, after the founding member of the BJP who was born in Kolkata.
"We urge the state government to request the Centre to rename Sealdah Station as Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Terminus and then we will push for it," he told reporters on Sunday.
In response, the Trinamool Congress questioned the BJP and instead suggested the Railway station be renamed after social reformer Swami Vivekananda. Speaking to the media, Trinamool state General Secretary Kunal Ghosh said, "the Kolkata port is already named after Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee. Why name another establishment after him? Instead, it should be renamed after Swami Vivekananda."
Kunal Ghosh claimed, after Swami Vivekananda had returned from Chicago, delivering his historic speech at the Parliament of the World's Religions he had arrived at Sealdah station where he got an astounding welcome.
In the past few weeks, the Trinamool has accused the BJP for insulting Bengalis and Bengali language over migrant workers being allegedly targeted in BJP-ruled states and later a Delhi Police communique calling Bangla as "Bangladeshi Language" also drew flak from political parties and citizens of the state.
