Ahead of PM’S Israel visit, NDMC moves proposal to rename Teen Murti after Haifa

LESS THAN a month after Park Street was named after Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) Thursday said it plans to rechristen Teen Murti Chowk and Teen Murti Marg after Haifa — a seaport city in Israel.

While the renaming was part of the NDMC meeting’s agenda, the decision has been deferred. “The agenda item regarding renaming of Teen Murti Chowk as Teen Murti Haifa Chowk and Ten Murti Marg as Teen Murti Haifa Marg has been deferred,” said an official statement from the NDMC.

Affirming the development, NDMC Chairperson Naresh Kumar said, “The council meeting took place in the afternoon. There were numerous issues in the agenda relating to human resource management, higher pay scale and regulation which were discussed. This discussion carried on for a long time as many council members raised certain points. As a result, the matter pertaining to the renaming was deferred till the next meeting.”

BJP MP and NDMC member Meenakshi Lekhi said the move had no connection with the PM’S visit to Israel but an effort to bring residents of Delhi closer to the India’s history. “Many are not aware about the history of the country and the significance of these names. This proposal was sent by me to the council. It has nothing to do with the PM’S Israel visit,” Lekhi said.

NDMC vice-chairman Karan Singh Tanwar said, “These three statues (the teen murtis) depict the three Indian Regiments, which sacrificed their life and contributed to the liberation of Haifa from Muslim Turks.”

During the First World War in 1918, three regiments of Indian cavalrymen, as part of the British Army, had overthrown the Ottoman rule in Haifa, following which Haifa was turned into an industrial port city. September 23 is observed as Haifa Day in India and Israel to pay homage to the Indians who died in the battle and to mark the end of Turkish rule in the city.