New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Madhya Pradesh will inaugurate the redesigned Rani Kamlapati Railway Station 2021. Previously, this railway station was named Habibganj station which now has been redeveloped at the cost of Rs 100 crore and features airport-like facilities. The station has been renamed after the Gond queen Rani Kamlapati. The renaming of the station is also based on the central government’s decision to celebrate November 15 as ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas’ in memory of Birsa Munda.
Who was Queen Kamlapati?
Rani Kamlapati was the Gond queen of the region who ruled during the 18th century. She was the widowed ruler of Nizam Shah, who was the chief of Ginnorgarh. There are no images of the Queen, and it was said that her beauty was the stuff of legend. During her reign, she built the seven-story Kamalapati Palace and covers both the Upper and Lower Lakes. The palace is now an ASI-protected monument.
A Gond legend stated that Maharani on moonlit nights would emerge from her waterside palace and float on the lake, carried afloat by the lotus flower and attended to by 500 maidens who followed her in rowing boats, as reported by Times of India.
Reportedly, the Gond community comprises of 1.2 crore population and is popularly known as the home of the largest tribal group in India. Culturally, the Gond belongs to the Gondi-Manda subgroup of the South Central branch of the Dravidian language family.
How did the name of Habibganj Railway Station change?
The Madhya Pradesh government wrote a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for renaming the Habibganj Railway Station after Queen Kamlapati. The letter from the state’s transport department states that the renaming of the station is commensurate with the central government’s decision to celebrate ‘‘Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas’ in memory of tribal leader and freedom fighter, Birsa Munda.
Madhya Pradesh’s Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan extended the hand of gratefulness towards PM Modi for granting permission for the name change of the station. Besides, the government also issued a gazette notification stating that the name change will be pronounced as Rani Kamlapati Railway Station. Chouhan regarded Queen Kamlapati as the pride of the Gond community and “the last Hindu queen of Bhopal.”
The state government’s decision to change the name of the railway station came after BJP MP from Bhopal, Pragya Singh Thakur wished for the station to be renamed after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Besides, the work of changing the old name boards at the railway station in the new Bhopal has also started.
Madhya Pradesh’s Public Relations Department in a tweet stated that in 1905, the railway station was called Shahpur which in 1979 was renamed Habibganj.
