Russian request: Why not name flyover after Gagarin?

A new era was ushered in space exploration on April 12,1961,when Gagarin became the first human to journey into space as his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the earth. A few months later, in October 1961,Gagarin visited Mumbai and addressed a rally at Shivaji Park. He later attended a dinner in his honour.

“We believe that naming the flyover after Yuri Gagarin,who ushered in a new space era,will be symbolic during the golden jubilee of his first space flight that the world celebrated on April 12,2011. Further,it was Mumbai that Gagarin chose to visit after his space flight,which makes the city the right place to commemorate him. All the more so,as India is presently one of the greatest space nations in the world and enjoys a long and mutually beneficially record of joint space programmes with Russia,” reads the letter.

Sources said Novikov also met BMC commissioner Subodh Kumar on May 25 to discuss the matter. Officials said no decision on the naming had been taken yet. The consul general has also requested for a meeting with Chavan to discuss the matter.

The letter goes on say that several Russian cities have “venues” commemorating Mahatma Gandhi,Jawaharlal Nehru,Rajiv Gandhi,Rabindranath Tagore and other “great pearls of India”. “Russia and India enjoy a time-tested friendship that has extended far beyond a governmental level to a regional,grassroots level. As a reflection of Russia’s reverence towards the Indian people,Russian regional and local authorities name streets in honour of prominent Indian statesman and erect monuments to immortalise them… Similarly,we believe that there’s quite a large number of outstanding men in Russia,who,we feel,deserve to be commemorated,” says the letter. It goes on to add that “this,in our opinion,could underline the friendship between our countries and strengthen ties between our people as they will be attracted by each other’s history and accomplishments.”

The 50th anniversary of Gagarin’s first space-flight here by the celebrated by the Nehru Planetarium,the Russian Centre for Science & Culture and the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Mumbai. In 2000,to mark 100 years of diplomatic relations between India and Russia,a monument was erected at Maharashtra’s Revdanda in memory of Afanasiy Nikitin,the first Russian merchant to land on Indian soil in 1479.