ISBT, bus stop or Sarai Kale Khan chowk, what exactly is named after Birsa Munda?

While there is no mystery about the timing of the announcement, there are several unanswered questions about the renaming of Sarai Kale Khan Chowk as Birsa Munda Chowk on 15 November in memory of the 25-year-old tribal freedom fighter from Jharkhand, Birsa Munda (1875-1900), who led an uprising against the British, was arrested and died in prison, widely suspected to have been killed in custody.

For the past four years, 15 November has been observed as Jan jaatiya Gaurav Divas as the date is accepted as Birsa Munda’s birthday. A recent direction by the University Grants Commission to all universities to commemorate the occasion preceded Friday’s announcement by Union urban development minister Manohar Lal Khattar that Sarai Kale Khan, an intersection and bus terminus in south Delhi, was being renamed Birsa Munda Chowk.

Even as the announcement, five days before polling in Maharashtra and the second phase of polling in Jharkhand, is designed to demonstrate the BJP's love and reverence for tribal icons, tribals themselves are not quite impressed.

Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren is not the only one who has protested the attempt to belittle the freedom fighter. The founder of Tribal Army Hansraj Meena, too, described it as a symbolic and politically motivated move to divert attention from 'real issues'.

Both Soren and Meena objected to a shabby, congested and chaotic intersection being named after Birsa Munda. Meena demanded that a large statue of the freedom fighter at a more prominent place in the national capital would have been more appropriate if the government were serious about honouring the icon. While Soren demanded that the ‘central vista’ in New Delhi be named after the freedom fighter, Meena wanted the airport to be renamed after him.

Questioning why the BJP failed to register the symbolic gesture earlier, tribals accused it of diverting people’s attention from real issues. The BJP is selling off tribal land, forests and mines to its cronies, they said, and pointed out that the BJP government has systematically undermined public sector undertakings that provided jobs to tribals. The Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha claimed that in Central universities, 40 per cent teaching posts and 50 per cent non-teaching posts meant for scheduled tribes are vacant.

Union government officials, quoted in a report in the Indian Express, have added to the controversy by claiming that the ISBT (Inter State Bus Terminus) at Sarai Kale Khan will continue to be known after the 14th-century Sufi saint after whom Sarai Kale Khan is named. Does that then mean that just the bus stop will be known as Birsa Munda bus stand? This is unlikely to go down well with people.

There is also no clarity on who decided to rename the intersection or the bus stop; whether any such proposal was received, and if so, from whom. It is also not known what kind of deliberations were held, how much time was devoted, and on what grounds the renaming was justified.

Sources in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the NCT (National Capital Territory) of Delhi, quoted by the Indian Express, questioned whether due process was followed before the hurried renaming of the intersection.

There is at present no ‘naming authority’ in the NCT, they pointed out, as it had not been constituted. This authority, AAP sources claimed, is the one authorised to approve changes in the existing names of roads, lanes, parks and institutions. So, if the naming authority is non-existent, who took the call?

The website of the Delhi Naming Authority carries a guideline, which states that as far as possible, existing names should not be changed. It also lays down that while naming roads and parks after individuals, the principle should be the contribution of the individuals to Delhi and they should, as far as possible, have been residents of Delhi.

The NDMC area (New Delhi Municipal Corporation) are in Luyen’s Zone is administered directly by the Union government and the jurisdiction of the government of the NCT does not extend there.  However, Sarai Kale Khan falls under the PWD (Public Works Department) of the Delhi government.

The proposal, the guidelines held, should be examined and sent to a sub-committee for necessary research. The report of the sub-committee would be examined by the naming authority before a decision is taken. The website also carries details of over 450 such changes between 1985 and 2008. The last constituted naming authority, according to the website, was headed by the chief minister and included the commissioner of police, deputy commissioners, MLAs and others. There are 28 ex-officio members mentioned in the list.

The guidelines also state that proposals for a change of name should preferably come from a body or group registered under the societies act. Political parties, significantly, are not mentioned. Clearly the idea of renaming was not to score political points.

What makes it even worse is the claim of the Union government, unattributed sources mentioned in The Indian Express report, “the name ‘Sarai Kale Khan’ — which was neither delineated nor “officially named” — “did not exist in any government records pertaining to the Capital.”

So, if the name does not even exist in any records, why ‘rename’ it and that too without following due process?