Until word became known on Monday, the NCR town of Alwar in Rajasthan appeared to be preparing to name a 750m, four-lane flyover after the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, Nathuram Godse. The flyover joining Bhagat Singh Circle to Agrasen Circle in Alwar town had a plate that said `Rashtrawadi Nathuram Godse Pul' (Nationalist Nathuram Godse Bridge), which was detached after the media, started asking questions about the controversial decision.
The construction of the flyover was approved by the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in 2012 and was finished currently at a cost of Rs 22 core under the BJP government of Vasundhara Raje. It is awaited to be inaugurated in the coming few days.
Encountered with queries from the media, authorities initially pretended ignorance and for nearly two hours. After consultations with the political and bureaucratic brass, district collector Mahavir Swami sent a group of officials to get the plate inscription erased.
“It was done by some anti-social elements to fan communal tension,“ the collector told TOI. Ex-MP Bhanwar Jitendra Singh of the Congress said the flyover was being devoted to Godse at the instruction of BJP leaders and government officials themselves had put up the plate. “I have inputs about the officials who did it. They are just passing the buck now, “said Singh, a scion of the erstwhile Alwar royal family. Accidentally, the revolver that Gods used to kill Gandhi belonged to the Alwar royal family.
