Naming Railway Stations

 

There is invariably a controversy when something is named. This something could be an airport, a port, a railway station, a bus stand, a street, a road, a dam, an educational institute, a waterway, a sanctuary or a zoo, an university or maybe countless other things. These things invariably get named after prominent personalities or institutions. The criteria is usually someone big associated with the ruling party of the day. There was no surprise when anything and everything was named or renamed after the Nehru-Gandhi family during the Congress rule. The Connaught Place was named Rajiv Chowk, there was the Hyderabad airport which was named after Rajiv Gandhi, there was a sea link between Bandra and Worli in Mumbai that was named after Rajiv Gandhi. Similarly, there did arise issues when the current government named Mughalsarai station as Deen Dayal Nagar. It is not the railway stations were not named before. Mumbai VT was renamed as Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus whereas the new Kurla Terminus was named as Lokmanya TIlak Terminus. There was Gomoh which was named after Subhash Chandra Bose. There are numerous stations in Kolkata Metro which have been named after personalities.

 

These things bring to the fore the question whether these institutions or landmarks should be named after somebody. For those in agreement, the next question would obviously would have been on whom they should be named after. This would be more relevant in the context of railway stations. When one examines the context, airports have been named after prominent personalities including Indira Gandhi Airport, Chatrapati Shivaji Airport of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Airport among others. There have been universities named after personalities as have been many other institutions. The Railways have had a policy of not naming trains after a person though there do exist exceptions like a Tippu Express or Rani Chenamma Express. In general however, railways do not name the trains after persons. In this context, it would instructive to examine whether the railway stations should be named after persons or institutions.

 

The railway stations do represent a sort of a landmark within their respective cities, towns and villages. In many small towns and villages, the life revolves around the railway station. It is the hub of life and livelihoods. It is the fulcrum around which the conversations exist. It is the platform around which the people gather for their daily dose of gossip. Hence it would not be inappropriate to name this station after some person or institution. Yet, there would be questions to be raised on the criteria to be followed as mentioned above. There would be a natural tendency to name the railway stations or terminals or complexes to name after the people who belong to the ruling party at the centre. There would be a question of how many stations could be named after a single person. This is possible given the tendency to please the ruling party. The criteria which have to be followed must be objective and exceptions should be a case of rarity rather than a norm.

 

There must be a rule that the station must not be named after a living person. In fact, at least ten years must elapse after the death of the person before the station could be named after him or her. Exceptions might exist but they must be rare. For instance, if named after a living person, they must be associated strongly with the town something like the town itself is identified with them. An instance would be Satya Sai Prashanti Nilayam in Andhra Pradesh. In any case, they must not be politicians or those involved in active public life. They should be preferably in social causes or spiritual causes. As mentioned above, these must be extremely rare cases and not a norm. Secondly, the person or the institution lending the name to the station must be associated with the local place. This would be adhered with extreme strictness. If not followed, it would result into naming every Tom Dick and Harry station after only a single individual. There must exist only one station that bears the name of an individual or the institution. The stations mentioned above do represent personalities that have had a local association with those said stations.

 

There is a definitely a strong and sound logic for naming the stations. As mentioned above, the station is an identity, a brand for the town or city or village it is serving. Therefore, it goes without saying that the brand has to be built and nourished. As people pass through place, it brings to them consciously or sub-consciously the history of the town. There exists a long tail if one might term of personalities, events and institutions that have shaped the geographies and histories of many a city, town or village. They need to be given a place in the sun. They need to be given a sort of identity, a sort of push that will enable the rest of the world to know about them. It might be the Siddaroodha Swamiji in Hubli or Sahuji Maharaj in Kolhapur or maybe some other personality in some other city. They bring with them a sort of association with the city. It creates a halo if used well.

 

As discussed above, there certainly exists a scope for misuse. There certainly would arise demands for each station to be named after someone. This demand invariably would be linked with political connotations and that should not be surprising. There is a possibility of diminishing returns associated with the naming since each and every station cannot be named. Moreover, if the stations named after well known people or institutions are skipped by trains, it might result in yet another grouse of insulting those great people. This might create a situation for every train to become passenger train. Alternatively, there might be complaints that naming smaller stations are well known personalities would be insulting to them since these stations are small and therefore the demand would be for the larger stations to be named so. It is obvious that all sections cannot be pleased but with the larger context of railways highlighting local histories, naming of stations might actually be a good idea.