Bhopal, (Samajweekly) Newly renovated and with modern facilities for commuters, Bhopal’s Habibganj Railway Station will now be known as ‘Rani Kamlapati’ station.
After getting approval from the Centre, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan led state government has started replacing boards of ‘Habibganj Railway Station’ with ‘Rani Kamlapati Railway Station’, via an order in this regard issued on Saturday.
It came just one day ahead of the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Divas’ on November 15, during which he will also inaugurate the renovated railway station.
The Madhya Pradesh transport department late on Friday wrote to the Union Home Ministry seeking approval to rename Habibganj station after Gond (tribal) queen Kamlapati.
Interestingly, it came amid a section of the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wanting to rename Habibganj station after former Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee. A couple of days back, a group led by BJP MP Pragya Thakur had written a letter to Chouhan seeking to rename Habibganj station after Vajpayee.
However, eyeing the next assembly elections in 2023, Chouhan instead chose Rani Kamlapati, who is considered the last Hindu queen of Bhopal.
On the birth anniversary of tribal freedom fighter Birsa Munda on November 15, Prime Minister Modi and Chief Minister Chouhan will address a mass gathering of tribal communities, and will announce several schemes focusing on tribals.
Birsa Munda’s birth anniversary is being celebrated as ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Divas’ on November 15.
The move is seen as an attempt to please Hindu voters, especially in the tribal communities. In the last assembly polls in 2018, the BJP had managed to win only 15 seats against the Congress’ 36 here.
“Rani Kamlapati is the pride of the Gond community and the last Hindu queen of Bhopal. Her kingdom was usurped by Afghan commander Dost Mohammed by deceit under a conspiracy. When she knew that victory against Dost Mohammed was not possible, she committed ‘jal jauhar’ to save her respect,” Chouhan said on Saturday.
