Mumbai square, named after ex-Israeli PM Shimon Peres, sparks row
IANS / Updated: Feb 13, 2021, 15:21 IST
Photo: Getty Images
For the first time, a prominent junction in south Mumbai has been named after a foreign dignitary, but it sparked off a political row among various parties in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (
BMC).
Shimon Peres Chowk after the late Israel President and two-time Prime Minister
Shimon Peres (1923-2016), who was also the joint winner of the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize along with Yasir Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin. However, the square, renamed without fanfare around 4 months ago, ostensibly owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown restrictions, has now led to a civic political fracas.
Former Israeli prime minister and Nobel laureate Shimon Peres (Photo credit: @PresidentPeres)
MUMBAI: Despite opposition from a section of corporators, the BMC has named a junction in Kala Ghoda after former Israeli prime minister and Nobel peace prize laureate Shimon Peres. This is the first time that a prominent junction in Mumbai has been named after a foreign dignitary. The naming of the chowk after Peres has led to a fresh controversy with the SP and the Congress opposing the naming.
The BMC recently put up a street sign board at the junction which read, ‘Shimon Peres Chowk’ in Kala Ghoda. The Samajwadi Party and the Congress had opposed the proposal when it was discussed in 2018 saying though Peres had been a friend of India, he didn’t have any specific connection with Mumbai or Maharashtra.