UP on renaming spree to honour Deendayal Upadhyaya

NEW DELHI: A name-changing drive is on in Uttar Pradesh to commemorate Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya, with the Centre supporting the state government in this exercise.

The Centre has approved renaming of a railway station near Upadhyaya’s native village in Mathura after him, officials said, and is likely to soon give the go-ahead for renaming the Mughalsarai railway station as well after the founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the precursor of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Upadhyaya, born in Nagla Chandrabhan village in September 1916, was found dead at a railway track near Mughalsarai station in February 1968 in mysterious circumstances. The Farah Town Railway station in Mathura will now be known as the Deendayal Dham railway station, as per a notification issued by the UP government which said the Union home ministry has given its “no-objection” to the move. Separately, a new civil terminal coming up at Agra’s Indian Air Force airport is being named after Upadhyaya.