New Delhi: AAP MLA Surinder Singh on Tuesday said he would oppose the move to rename the Race Course Road, on which the Prime Minister’s official residence is located, as Ekatma Marg and demanded that it be rechristened after a martyr.
Mr Singh, a former National Security Guard (NSG) commando who suffered injury in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, said several veterans had approached him saying if the road has to be renamed then it should be done to honour martyred soldiers.
Mr Singh, a New Delhi Municipal Council member, said he would raise the issue in the Council meeting on Wednesday. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is also a member of NDMC.
“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,” Singh said.
He said Race Course Road also houses two air force stations. BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi had proposed to the NDMC to rename the Race Course Road as Ekatma Marg based on the philosophy of her party’s ideologue Deendayal Upadhyay. She said that the existing name, Race Course Road, “does not match with Indian culture”.
Upadhyay is remembered by his followers for his concept of antyodaya (serving the last man in the queue) and ekatma (integral humanism).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will kick off Upadhyay’s 100th birth anniversary celebrations on September 25.
Ms Lekhi, who is a member of NDMC, said in her proposal to the civic body that as the residence of the PM is situated on Race Course Road, the new name — Ekatma Marg — would remind every PM about the last person of the society.
The Race Course Road was named after the Delhi race course, part of Delhi Race Club, established in 1940.
In August last year, Aurangzeb Road in Lutyens’ Delhi had been renamed as Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Road in honour of the late President. NDMC had taken the decision after East Delhi BJP MP Maheish Girri had proposed the move.
