SDPI holds protest over Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar railway station's name not being written in Urdu

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Dec 8 (PTI) Workers of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) on Monday protested over the name of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar railway station in Maharashtra's Marathwada region not being written in Urdu.

A group of 20 SDPI workers tried to enter the station premises for a 'rail roko' but they were stopped and detained by railway police and RPF personnel, an official said.

The name of the station was changed from Aurangabad to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar railway station in October this year through a gazette notification issued by the state government.

"We will continue our fight against the name change. But our demand for now is that the station's new name must be written in Urdu as well. The names of other stations in the district are written in Urdu, so what is the problem here? The Railway Board dropped Urdu under political pressure after BJP MLC Sanjay Kenekar gave a statement," SDPI district president Shah Sameer Ahmed claimed.

He said the move is a result of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party wanting to show that Urdu is the language of only Muslims.

The detained activists were released later, a police official said. PTI AW BNM