The announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi renaming the iconic Chennai Central station after the former Chief Minister MG Ramachandran has evoked mixed reactions from a cross section of people with many claiming that the move is politically motivated without keeping citizens’ wishes in mind.
Chennai:
City historian Theodore Baskaran said that he strongly disapproved of renaming a place or building as the original names are immortal. “The Chennai Central station has retained its name for a 100 years. It is associated with rich history.
Besides, there is no connection between the iconic leader MGR and the railways. Also, this will only add to the confusion when people try to book tickets online. This is an insensitive move.”
On his social media page, media entrepreneur Vincent D Souza, said, “I refuse to accept renaming of the Central station. And like thousands of Chennaiites and others outside the city, we will continue to call it Chennai Central.
It is our heritage, it is our space and it belongs to us. A Prime Minister cannot change names or iconic places to suit his fancy.
And if a PM or a CM keeps renaming spaces that are part of our lives just for momentary cheers and quick deals, we will rename them too. It is time to tell such leaders that we will not accept the name change.”
Vincent further urged that the people to send 100 postcards to PMO’s office to express the displeasure.
Several Chennaiites that DT Next spoke to said that they would continue to refer to the station by its original name. A retired Central government employee, Ramakrishnan, said, “The change of name is not going to change things in a big way. The common people are still going to refer to the building as Çhennai Central’.”
Meanwhile, the managing director of Roco Parryware, KE Ranganathan, said, “It is a welcome move of changing the name. Tradition should always pave way for newer things. There should be no controversy around this matter as the building has been renamed after a popular leader. It only shows the love the masses have for MGR.”
But, according to heritage enthusiast Meenakshi Ramesh, the news has been disappointing not just for her but for other heritage lovers in the city. “We have a closed group only for history buffs.
The members are extremely disappointed with the idea as the name as heritage value attached to it. In the name of honoring our leaders, we cannot take away the heritage associated with the building.”
Historical perspective
The iconic Madras Central was built on the open grounds belonged to Joao Pereira de Faria, a Portuguese Merchant in the Park Town in 1873. During the British rule, the Madras Central was part of the South Indian Railway Company.
“It was built to ease traffic at the Royapuram harbour station. In 1907, the Madras Central was made the Madras Railway Company’s main station. The company was established in 1890 with its headquarters at Tiruchy,” said the historian Theodore Baskaran.
In the following year, the Egmore Railway station was made the company’s northern terminus. Later, it was shifted to Madurai and then to Madras Central. The station gained prominence after the beach line was extended further south in the same year, and Royapuram was no longer a terminus for Madras.
All trains were then terminated at Madras Central instead. The Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway Company (Currently known as Southern Railways) was formed in 1908 and took over the Central station from the Madras Railway Company.
The station’s position was further strengthened after the construction of the headquarters of the company in 1922.
Recent name changes
- The domestic terminal in the city was renamed to honour the former chief minister and the congress leader K Kamaraj in 2013, while the international terminal was named after the former chief minister and the DMK leader, CN Annadurai
- Similarly, the government recently renamed the CMBT Mofussil bus stand after the AIADMK founder and the former Chief Minister, MG Ramachandran, last year
How are names of buildings changed?
According to the notification issued in 1953 (Ministry of Home Affairs Guidelines), the State government should send a proposal to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
It is under the discretion of the ministry to grant a ‘No Objection’ to the state government concerned for issuing required Gazatte notification. Before sending the proposal, the government should consider the following factors:
It is not desirable to change a name which people have got used to unless there is some special reason. The names of villages etc. having a historical connection should not be changed as far as possible. A change should not be made merely on grounds of local patriotism or for linguistic reasons.
In selecting new names, care should be taken to see that there is no village or town etc. of the same name in the state and neighbourhood, which might lead to confusion.
Finally, while recommending any change, the state government should furnish detailed reasons for proposing the change in the name and also for selecting the new name.