Functionaries of the Shantaveri Gopala Gowda Samajawadi Adhyayana Kendra Trust have urged the Union government to name the Jambagaru railway station in Sagar after socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia.
A delegation of the trust functionaries, comprising its managing trustee Kallur Megharaj and members B.R. Jayanth, who is also the former member of Karnataka State Planning Board, P. Puttaiah and V. Raju on Sunday submitted a memorandum to Shivamogga MP and national vice-president of Bharatiya Janata Party B.S. Yeddyurappa in this regard.
Arrested
Mr. Megharaj said that late Ram Manohar Lohia had visited Sagar on June 13, 1951 to extend support to peasants, who were staging a protest against landlords over the terms of tenancy in the nearby Kagodu village. The police arrested him at Jambagaru railway station in Sagar then. The Kagodu Satyagraha drew nationwide attention and forced the State government to introduce appropriate laws related to land reforms, he said.
To commemorate the 50th year of Kagodu Satyagraha, various socialists and freedom fighters had organised a programme at Sagar on June 13, 2000 in which it was decided to press the government to name the railway station after Lohia. The Sagar City Municipal Council had also passed a unanimous resolution in this regard.
A proposal on naming the railway station after Lohia was submitted to the Union government the same year through V. Srinivasa Prasad, who was then a Union Minister.
Accepting the proposal, the then Home Minister at the Centre, L.K. Advani, had written to the State government to send a formal recommendation letter in this regard.
The then Karnataka government had written to the Union government in April 2001 stating that there was no objection from any quarter on naming the railway station after Lohia, he said.
However, the issue was not raised thereafter, Mr. Megharaj said and requested Mr. Yeddyurappa to once again raise the issue and ensure that the railway station is named after Lohia. Mr. Yeddyurappa had responded positively and assured the delegation that he would meet the Union Minister concerned.
