Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction in Uttar Pradesh

The Mughalsarai railway station, located in Uttar Pradesh, India, was built by the East India Company in 1862 during the British colonial era. Since then, it has been one of the busiest railway stations in India, providing a vital link for trade between the northern and eastern parts of the country. In February 1968, Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, a right-wing Hindu nationalist politician, was found dead near the station under suspicious circumstances. After years of political pressure from Hindu nationalists beginning in 1992, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) renamed the station as Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction in 2018. Opposition political parties and public intellectuals criticised this decision, citing a Hindu nationalist agenda of ‘rewriting history’ and marginalising India’s Muslims. Still, though there was criticism, this did not lead to any protest action. This case study illustrates the role of political regimes in the creation of contested public spaces.