Silchar: The long-pending renaming of Silchar Railway Station as “Bhasha Shahid Station, Silchar” has again stirred debate, after Assam Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma’s recent remarks were challenged by the Bhasha Shahid Station Shahid Smaran Committee, which released documents claiming the approval process had been completed years ago.

Committee General Secretary Rajib Kar said the Chief Minister’s comments, made during his visit to Silchar on October 24, were “partly inaccurate.” According to Kar, both the State Government and the Centre had approved the renaming in 2016, and only a Gazette Notification from the state remains pending.

Official records produced by the Committee show that the Assam Government, under then Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, sent a proposal on February 10, 2016 to rename Silchar Railway Station as Bhasha Shahid Station, Silchar (Ref. No. PLA 463/2008/432).

Later that year, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, led by Rajnath Singh, issued a No Objection Certificate on November 7, 2016 (Ref. No. 44/72016-M&G/1496), approving the new name and instructing the Assam Government to issue the required Gazette Notification in Hindi, English, and the regional language.

“The Centre’s approval was clear and unconditional. What’s missing is only the Gazette Notification from the Assam Government,” said Kar.

The Committee alleged that the renaming process was “unnecessarily delayed” after a counter-claim surfaced in 2018 from a few individuals of the Dimasa community, seeking to name the station after tribal leader Bir Sambhudhan Phonglo.

Kar called the move “politically motivated and historically baseless,” stating that even the Cachar District Administration and Police had informed the government that such claims held no validity. “The Dimasa people have rightly honored Bir Sambhudhan Phonglo by installing his statue in Haflong, but his life and struggle have no connection with the Silchar Railway Station,” he added.

The Committee has urged the Chief Minister and local representatives to complete the process before the next election announcement.

“The Silchar Railway Station is a sacred site where eleven Bengali language martyrs shed their blood in 1961. Naming it ‘Bhasha Shahid Station, Silchar’ is not merely symbolic — it’s a moral and historical necessity,” Kar said.

He added that repeated assurances from both former Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and current Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma have yet to translate into action.

According to the Committee, the only step left is the publication of the Gazette Notification formalizing the station’s name — a directive already issued by the Union Government in 2016.

Until that notification is released, the official renaming remains incomplete despite full approval from both state and central authorities nearly a decade ago.

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