Strong demand made to rename Silchar station as ‘Bhasa Shahid Station’ by 15 August

August 13: The All Assam Students Union (AASU) on Tuesday made public a high-level committee’s confidential report on the implementation of 1985 Assam Accord’s Clause 6, which pertains to safeguards for the preservation and promotion of Assamese identity and heritage. Justice (Retd) Biplab Kumar Sarma-led 13-member committee submitted the report to Sonowal in February. Clarity on who can be called an Assamese was one of the committee’s main tasks as the accord did not clearly define it.

The moment the 141-page report of Clause 6 implementation committee came in the public domain, many conflicting issues came to the forefront like proposals for renaming of Sadarghat Bridge as Jananeta Hijam Irabot Singh Bridge, Silchar Railway station as Raja Govinda Chandra station, Women’s College Silchar as Rani Induprabha Women’s College and Silchar Medical College & Silchar airport after late Moinul Hoque Choudhury etc.

This aspect of renaming invited sharp reactions from various quarters of Barak Valley. Especially, the issue of renaming Silchar Railway Station as Raja Govinda Chandra Station came as a bolt from the blue to many. This is because a mass demand was already raised to change the name of Silchar Railway Station to “Bhasa Shahid Station, Silchar” since 2005. This was an attempt to provide the language martyrs of this valley a legitimacy.

In this connection, way2barak reached out to Dr. Rajib Kar, General Secretary of ‘Bhasa Shahid Station Shahid Smaran Samiti’, the organisation which spearheaded the movement for renaming Silchar Railway Station as “Bhasha Shaheed Station, Silchar.”

While speaking to way2barak, Dr. Rajib Kar said, “It was on 7 November 2016, that the Government of India gave no objection for changing the name of Silchar Railway Station as ‘Bhasa Shahid Station, Silchar.’ In that letter issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs of Government of India, the state government of Assam was requested to issue the required Gazette Notification for the spelling of new name in Devnagri (Hindi), Roman (English) and Regional Language (Bengali). However, since then, the issue is lying pending in the court of the state government for reasons best known to them.”

Dr. Rajib Kar further said that the Chief Minister has given positive assurance in this matter on a number of occasions. Mr. Sonowal has assured to rename Silchar Railway Station standing in the very premises of the station and also during ‘Namami Barak’ programme. They have met the Chief Minister 14 times on this very issue.

It is in this backdrop that Dr. Rajib Kar on behalf of ‘Bhasa Shahid Station Shahid Smaran Samiti’ sent an email to the Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal and Cabinet Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. In that letter, the Samiti urged upon the state government to “issue the much awaited notification before 15 August, 2020 and thereby respect the sentiments of the people of this valley.” He further wrote, “We fervently believe in your promptness and so hope that your kind intervention will definitely speed up the pending formalities of renaming Silchar Station as “Bhasa Shahid Station, Silchar” by 15 August, 2020.” Dr. Rajib Kar said, “Once the renaming is done, the martyrs of ‘19’ will get their rightful honor and due recognition.”