Proposal to name Bengaluru metro station after St Mary sparks row; ‘appeasement’, says BJP

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's positive response to a proposal to name the upcoming metro station near Shivajinagar in Bengaluru after St Mary has sparked a row, with many decrying the move and the opposition BJP dubbing it “appeasement”.

What Siddramaiah said

Participating in the inauguration of the annual feast at St Mary's Basilica on September 8, Siddaramaiah said his government would recommend to the Centre that the upcoming metro station be named after St Mary.

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The metro station is part of an ongoing construction on the Pink Line in the city.

"A request has been made to name the metro station (after St Mary). I have spoken to Rizwar (Congress MLA Rizwan Arshad), who is from the constituency. If told as to which station should be named, we will send a recommendation to the central government," Siddaramaiah had said.

Insult to Shivaji: Maharashtra CM

The BJP was quick to slam the Karnataka chief minister’s statement. Siddramaiah’s Maharashtra counterpart, Devendra Fadnavis, was among the first to condemn the proposal.

“I condemn the Karnataka government’s move to rename Shivajinagar metro station in Bengaluru after St Mary. It is an insult to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj,” Fadnavis said.

Stating that the Congress has a “tradition of insulting” Shivaji dating back to the days of former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Fadnavis hoped that the “almighty gives Siddaramaih sense” to not implement the proposal.

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Congress accused of appeasement politics

Accusing the Congress government of "appeasement politics", Karnataka BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy said, the naming of the metro station should not be on religious basis and his party is going to oppose it.

"Will they remove the name Shivajinagar? They should not go beyond the limits for pleasing someone. Appeasement has become the first choice of the Congress party. Because of appeasement, the party has gone to dogs now, still they are doing appeasement politics. It will not work. We will not allow it," he told reporters.

Nothing wrong in request: Shivakumar

Reacting to the objections, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said, "We have just discussed it. There is a request (to name after St Mary). There is nothing wrong in the request. We will take a call on that."

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There were some objections on social media to the naming on religious grounds. Some demanded that metro stations should be named after the locality or after famous local personalities.

There were also demands by some to name the station after late Kannada actor Shankar Nag, who is credited for his vision regarding having a rapid transit system for Bengaluru in the 1980s.