On Tuesday, the historic Mughalsarai railway station in Uttar Pradesh, was officially renamed as Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay station. The move was cleared by the Uttar Pradesh government last year and this station was chosen because Upadhyay was found dead near the tracks under mysterious circumstances on February 11, 1968.

The station renaming exercise was reportedly undertaken to revive the legacy of Upadhyay, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh member and co-founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the precursor to the Bharatiya Janata Party. This ties in with an ongoing challenge for the ruling BJP – the party was not in existence during India’s freedom struggle and by various accounts, its ideological predecessors did not play an active part in that movement. As a result, RSS leaders have not occupied the same place in India’s contemporary history as Indian National Congress leaders and others attached to the freedom movement.

That the BJP has its task cut out in its ongoing effort to elaborate its historical moorings was proven by the reaction of Twitter users to the Mughalsarai renaming exercise, with many raising the question: Who was Deen Dayal Upadhyay?

When you were asked what are Deen Dayal upadhayay contribution for India pic.twitter.com/TkWMPo2qU5 — Sarkarsm ✘ (@thebakwaashour) June 5, 2018

Indians when asked... "Who was Deen Dayal Upadhyay" pic.twitter.com/wQI07kJLVF — Poster Wala Bagga (@baklolbagga) June 5, 2018

I think because of his exemplary service to the crown, Deendayal ji would have been happier to rename Mughalsarai to Elizabethsarai . — Rofl Gandhi (@RoflGandhi_) June 5, 2018

List of good works done by deen dayal upadhyay 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/3wsBgQ9Snc — Saffron Ullu🦉 (@SaffronUllu) June 5, 2018

Reiterating William Shakespeare’s profound question, several Twitter users also mused what difference the name of the station would make to real challenges facing the Railway, like poor infrastructure and amenities. Twitter users also questioned the logic behind choosing to honour some leaders over others.

Surprised to see a Bullet Train on a normal track today soon after Mughalsarai railway station was renamed as Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay station. pic.twitter.com/FZUn6AMKEd — Unofficial Sususwamy (@swamv39) June 5, 2018

What we need - No Train Delay, Good service, Better food.



What we get - "Mugalsarai station ka naam badalkar Deen Dayal Upadhyay station rakha gya"@PiyushGoyal @PiyushGoyalOffc @RailMinIndia — Ankit Jain (@ankitjain237) June 6, 2018

Mughalsarai Junction was renamed Deen Dayal Upadhyay Station since Upadhyaya was found dead there under shady circumstances. By the same logic, BJP will now be inaugurating Tulsi Prajapati Chowk, Hiren Pandya Nagar, Sohrabbudin Sabzi Mandi, and Judge Loya Guest House pic.twitter.com/zz0IZOy0WI — IndiaExplained (@IndiaExplained) June 5, 2018

Lal Bahadur Shastri was born in Mughalsarai.

He was a freedom fighter.

He was 2nd PM of India.

He took moral responsibility of a rail accident and resigned as Minister of Railways.



His mistake- He couldnt die at Mughalsarai Junction like Deen Dayal Upadhyaya. pic.twitter.com/RTlfPMA6oq — Happucrat (@AreeDada__) June 5, 2018

Others pointed to the BJP’s renaming spree ever since it came to power, which has included tweaking the name of schemes introduced by the Congress and repackaging them under the new regime.

Innovation under this govt:

renaming jobs to pakodas

renaming Mughal Sarai to Deen Dayal upadhyay

renaming UPA schemes to BJP programmes #InnovationKiBaatPMKeSaath pic.twitter.com/cqubxHW4b3 — Raghav Chopra (@AarSee) June 6, 2018

The BJP’s attempts to rename several structures named after Mughal rulers – for instance, Aurangzeb Road was changed to APJ Abdul Kalam Road in 2015 and Akbar Fort was changed to Ajmer Fort – as well as minimise the contribution of that Empire in history textbooks also prompted Twitter users to wonder whether they would go after Mughlai food next.

The iconic Moglai Parota of Bengal will henceforth be called Deen Dayal Upadhyay Parota



Babur will be known as the 1st ruler of the Deen Dayal Upadhyay dynasty



The remake of that super hit movie will be named Deen-Dayal-E-Azam#Mughalsarai — 🇮🇳 ^o-o^ 🇮🇳 (@sandeeproy1) June 5, 2018

Sir humble request we must rename Chicken Mughlai to Chicken Deen Dayal Upadhyay. https://t.co/2lrC4eDyGw — Vinay Aravind (@vinayaravind) June 5, 2018

Mughlai food to be renamed, and the classic film Mughal-e-Azam will from now on be called something else. Please send in suggestions. #Mughalsarainamechange — Sidharth Bhatia (@bombaywallah) June 5, 2018

After iconic "Mugal Sarai" Railway St. renamed as "Deen Dayal Upadhyay" Railway St., in near future we will have:

Deen Dayal Biryani, Deen Dayal Malai Tikka, Deen Dayal Korma, Deen Dayal Chicken Kabab...& list goes on..Looks impressive😂😂😷🙊@krirtna @iammnisa @SKJ2B @sapanainc — ABurman25 (@ABurman25) June 5, 2018

When is @mjakbar changing his name to MJ Savarkar? pic.twitter.com/o6O3DUrAPC — Aisi Taisi Democracy (@AisiTaisiDemo) June 5, 2018

Or perhaps, it would be easier for the government to name everything after Deen Dayal Upadhyay.

Bollywood to be renamed. Probably to Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Chitrapat Udyog. — Nasir Ahemad (@ahemad_nasir) June 5, 2018

'Deen Dayal Upadhyay Plastic Bottles' on the table



and



'Deen Dayal Upadhyay Plastic Free City'



in the mind of



'Deen Dayal Upadhyay Plastic CM'. pic.twitter.com/ZdhIJLBnct — Dr Sania Maan 🇮🇳 (@DrSaniaMaan) June 5, 2018