NEW DELHI: With values of party’s foremost ideologue Deendayal Upadhyay, BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi has proposed to rename the Race Course road in the national capital to ‘Ekatma Marg”, on Tuesday.
'Ekatma' (integral humanism) being the centre piece of Upadhyay’s philosophy, of the Bhartiya Janta Party has found a special place due to his 100th birth anniversary on September 25.
Meanwhile, the government has also decided to change the name of the government also changed the name of the “Paryavaran Bhawan” which houses the Ministry of Environment and Forest, to Deendayal ‘Antyodaya Bhawan’.
“The decision to re-name the building as ‘Antyodaya Bhawan’ has been taken to highlight the Antyodaya philosophy of pandit Deendayal who advocated the upliftment of the poorest and the most under-privileged strata of the society” said Union Minister for Urban Development M. Venkaiah Naidu, while unveiling the new name plaque of the building.
According to sources, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) members who are meeting on Wednesday to discuss the proposal are going to approve the renaming, as the idea was originally generated by the in the Prime Minister’s office.
But soon after the proposal could see any movement, the Aam Aadmi Party has opposed it by saying such road should be in the name of a martyr.
“In order to take the philosophy of Ekatma in the mind of the public at large, the road currently named as Race course road on which the residence of the Prime Minister is situated ,does match the Indian culture” Lekhi who is the member of the NDMC said in the proposal
"Race Course Road should be renamed after any soldier. I propose that it should be renamed after 1965 war hero Flt Lt Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon, who sacrificed his life for the nation. Renaming of road should not reflect the ideology of the RSS," AAP MLA and member of the NDMC council Surinder Singh said.
Singh, a former National Security Guard (NSG) commando who suffered injury in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, said several veterans have approached him saying if the road is to be renamed then it should be done to honor martyred soldiers.
Currently the civic body has 21 proposals that it has received from organizations, departments and individuals to rename roads falling under its jurisdiction. However, no decision has been made by the NDMC in this regard.
The only change in names in the NDMC area that were done are , Connaught Circus to Indira Chowk, Connaught Place to Rajiv Chowk Canning Road to Madhav Rao Scindia Marg and Aurangzeb Road to APJ Abdul Kalam Road has been done already.