[Reader-list] Renaming Places in Kashmir -Communal propaganda at work again..

[Pawan Durani]

 Locals demand Rajwansher railway station be renamed

Maroosha Muzaffar
Indian Express
Posted online: April 10, 2009

*Srinagar *Two months after the J-K Chief Minister wrote to Union Railway
Minister for renaming the Rajwansher Railway station in the Valley as
Mazhama Railway station, the commuters and the local residents allege that
the change of name has not taken place. The railway boards and the
announcements at the station still call it Rajwansher station instead of
Mazhama station as was proposed by the government.

Omar Abdullah in a letter to Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had
written to him that the Rajwansher station in Kashmir’s Budgam district be
renamed as Mazhama station as it was found that there is no village in North
Kashmir by the name of Rajwansher. The local residents and the people in
Valley had taken offence to the name Rajwansher because they alleged that
this name – Rajwansher – would dilute the Muslim identity of Kashmir.

“There still is a board on the train that reads Rajwansher. No change has
been made in the name. Even the announcements at the Mazhama station call it
Rajwansher station. I just don’t understand why the railway authorities are
lax in their attitude,” said one of the commuters Zubair Ahmed. “Even though
the government has ordered renaming of the station, there seems to be no one
listening,” he added.

Rajwansher railway station is one of the 13 railway stations that fall
between South Kashmir’s Anantnag district and North Kashmir’s Baramulla
district. The first ever train in the valley was inaugurated on 11th October
2008 by the Prime Minister of the country Manmohan Singh. Other dignitaries
that were present on that day included Governor Jammu Kashmir N N Vohra,
Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, Union Water Resources Minister
Prof Saif-ud-din Soz, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and others. To begin
with, the train was supposed to run from Budgam (Rajwansher) to Anantnag,
covering a distance of 66 kilometers.

The residents of Budgam district alleged that there is no village by the
name of Rajwansher. Rajwansher is the name of one of the oldest Hindu rulers
of the state. They alleged that the government was using this name to
“sanskritize the Kashmiri culture” and demanded renaming of the station as
Mazhama or Mazhoom station.

Days before the inaugural of Mazhama – Baramulla railway line on February 14
by the Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Home Ministry had
issued a circular asking the authorities to change the name of Rajwansher
station to Mazhama station. The commuters allege that no change has taken
place, either on the railway boards or the automatic announcements. “They
still call it the Rajwansher station whish is unfortunate,” said Aamir
Ahmed, a government servant.

In fact the separatists in the valley too had raised their voices against
this name. They had alleged that by naming the station as Rajwansher, the
government was trying to kill the identity of the people of the valley.
“They are trying to Indianise our culture,” said Chief of Dukhtaran-e-Millat
(Daughters of Faith) Asiya Andrabi.

Meanwhile, the government is negligent of the issue. “It is news to me,”
said one of the officials in the DC’s office when asked why the station has
not been renamed. “We will look into the matter,” he said. The Railway
officials say the matter will be discussed.

Even though the government has issued orders to rename the Rajwansher
station, it remains to be seen when this will actually be done. The letters
by Omar Abdullah to Lalu Prasad Yadav had read, “It will be appropriate if
the railway station is named as Mazhama Railway Station.”

*editors at expressindia.com*