The politics over the naming of the recently opened Eastern Express Freeway has reached the streets of Mumbai. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) workers on Monday tried to block the Eastern Freeway. They demanded that Dr BR Ambedkar’s name be given to the Freeway and held demonstrations against the MNS that has demanded that the Freeway be named after late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. The NCP workers also tore MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s posters. The NCP workers held demonstrations at Chembur against the MNS’s demand to name the Freeway after the late Thackeray. They shouted slogans against Raj Thackeray.
NCP workers also attempted to close the Freeway because of which traffic got affected for a brief period. However, the police swung into action and avoided traffic blockage. NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik, who is also a local MLA from Anushakti Nagar, said, “We had demanded that the Freeway should be given Dr Ambedkar’s name. Majority of the population that had to shift their base to elsewhere to vacate land for the Freeway were dalits. Therefore, it is only appropriate to give Dr Ambedkar’s.”
Mr Malik had written a letter to the CM next day after the inauguration of the Freeway last month, demanding that it should be named after Dr Ambedkar. However, MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar last week wrote a letter to the CM demanding Thackeray’s name for the Freeway. Interestingly, Republican Party of India (Ramadas Athawale group) had held demonstrations against the MNS at Chembur on Sunday.
Reacting to the MNS demand, state NCP executive president Jitendra Awhad said, “The MNS is only playing politics and they are not going to pursue their demand seriously. They want to create trouble for Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and trying to create a rift between Shiv Sena and RPI.”
Meanwhile, Dr Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash Ambedkar has accused the NCP of playing politics over the issue. “There is already a road named after Dr Ambedkar in Mumbai. Let the Freeway be known only as the Freeway,” he said.