Mumbai square - named after ex-Israeli PM Shimon Peres - sparks row

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 BMCThe square is near Kala Ghoda and Saibaba Marg and has been rechristened as Shimon Peres Chowk after the late Israel President and twotime Prime Minister Shimon Peres 19232016 who was also the joint winner of the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize along with Yasir Arafat and Yitzhak RabinHowever the square renamed without fanfare around 4 months ago ostensibly owing to the Covid19 pandemic and lockdown restrictions has now led to a civic political fracasUsually any such proposal must be initiated by the local Municipal Corporator but it was apparently not done in this caseI have not initiated this square renaming proposal It was moved and implemented directly by the former Municipal Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi BMC Ward No 225 Shiv Sena Municipal Corporator Sujata Sanap told IANSThe BMC Leader of Opposition and Congress Municipal Corporator Ravi Raja said that the entire renaming has been done without following the BMC norms and it must be probedThe rules are very clear on thisAny personality who has contributed or impacted Mumbai can be considered for renaming any road chowk or other locations This concerns a foreign personalityIt never came before the elected members of the BMC So who authorised it asks RajaWhen asked the Shiv Sena Mayor Kishori Pednekar guardedly replied that she would find out if the square renaming was done as per the rules but declined to commit if it could be reversedI have discussed with the concerned persons They said it has been done as per due process The controversy is being created by some persons who are worried about the growing relations between IndiaIsrael Bharatiya Janata Party house leader Vinod Mishra told IANSThe issue has also been opposed by several parties like Samajwadi Party Nationalist Congress Party All India MajliseIttehadul Muslimeen among the prominent ones especially since Pardeshi was removed as the BMC chief in May 2020 and his purported proposal was implemented six months laterSP Legislator and BMC Corporator Rais Kasam Shaikh has written a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray demanding that the chowk name should be rescinded failing which his party would launch an agitation in the stateRenamed as Shimon Pares Chowk it is located adjacent to the famed and Mumbais second oldest synagogue the Knesset Eliyahoo Synagogue built in 1884 by Jacob Elias Sassoon at V B Gandhi MargThis square falls in the heart of the important sites targeting during the Mumbai terror attacks of Nov 2628 2008 with the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus Hotel Taj Mahal around 1 km away and the Chabad House in Nariman House and Hotel Trident some 2 kms awayThe quiet magnificent locality with many old buildings has a handful of resident Baghdadi Jew families whose ancestors migrated here from Baghdad in the early 1800sTheir leader was the legendary David Sassoon who served as the Treasurer of the Pashas of the erstwhile Ottoman Empire and the grandfather of Jacob Elias Sassoon A big businessman of his era several institutions including the David Sassoon Library were constructed by him and retain his nameIncidentally the proposal to name the square after Peres had first come up before the BMC in 2018 but was shelved due to widespread opposition that Peres had no connections nor contributed anything to the cityThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever