7 RCR may become 7 Ekatma Marg today

Aditi Tandon

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 20

India’s most coveted address, 7 Race Course Road, is all set to be renamed 7 Ekatma Marg with the capital’s municipal authorities geared to clear a name-change proposal by BJP lawmaker Meenakshi Lekhi.

The change will flow from a resolution the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is expected to pass at its full meeting tomorrow to rename the capital’s iconic Race Course Road, housing the Indian Prime Minister’s residence, as Ekatma Marg.

The new name is inspired by the “Ekatma Manavavada” (integral humanism) philosophy of former Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) president Deendayal Upadhyay whose birth centenary the ruling BJP government is celebrating this year.

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Upadhyay’s philosophy, “We are one”, adopted by the Jana Sangh in 1965, is the doctrine of the BJP that plans hundreds of events this year to celebrate the life of its ideologue. So much so, the BJP has chosen Kerala’s Kozhikode, where Upadhyay was anointed the BJS president in 1967, to host its national council meet from September 23.

Interestingly, Lekhi’s is not the sole BJP proposal dedicated to Upadhyay’s memory. Yesterday Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu attended an event held to mark the renaming of capital’s famous government complex Paryavaran Bhavan as Pt Deendayal Antodaya Bhavan. Paryavaran Bhavan houses several ministry offices.

So far as Lekhi’s justification to rename RCR goes, she feels the name RCR doesn’t gel with the Indian ethos.

Lekhi recently led a movement to rename the Aurangzeb Road in capital’s VVIP zone as Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road. She told The Tribune today, “The term Race Course Road doesn’t motivate anyone. It doesn’t inspire anyone. It’s an odd name. Ekatma Marg strikes an ideological chord by reminding us of oneness of all, a philosophy integral to all cultures. Even when I proposed the renaming of Aurangzeb Road, my idea was to see that an important road is remembered not for a religious zealot, but for Dr Kalam, a secular leader who advocated reason.”