The chowk sign, with a wrongly spelt name of Shimon Peres
MUMBAI: Despite opposition from some corporators, BMC has named a junction at Kala Ghoda after former Israeli prime minister and Nobel Peace prize laureate Shimon Peres. This is the first time a prominent junction in Mumbai has been named after a foreign dignitary. Samajwadi Party and Congress have opposed it.
BMC recently put up the signboard but SP and Congress had opposed the proposal when it was discussed in 2018, saying that though Peres had been a friend of India, he did not have any specific connection with Mumbai or Maharashtra.
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.