Kolkata road renaming is set to enter a formal review phase, with Lenin Sarani, Karl Marx Sarani and Ho-Chi-Minh Sarani among the prominent thoroughfares likely to be considered by a 10-member West Bengal government panel.
The advisory committee, constituted last Friday and headed by Swami Pradiptananda, also known as Kartik Maharaj, will hold its first meeting after Durga Puja. It has been tasked with reviewing proposals to rename roads, bridges and public places across the state. Proposals concerning Kolkata streets are expected to be taken up in the first phase.
Kartik Maharaj said the three roads would receive new names, while other proposals had also been submitted for consideration. He said the committee would examine the relevance of the personalities after whom the roads were named in relation to Indian and Bengali culture. The panel’s recommendations will be sent to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
The committee includes former Meghalaya governor Tathagata Roy, chief minister’s adviser Subrata Gupta and Kolkata Municipal Corporation commissioner Smita Pandey, among other members. The participation of the municipal commissioner places the exercise within the city’s civic administration as well as the state’s broader review of public-place names.
Roy said Lenin Sarani could be renamed after Debaprasad Ghosh, a mathematician and former president of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Karl Marx Sarani in Kidderpore, he suggested, could be renamed after Bengali poets Michael Madhusudan Dutt or Rangalal Bandyopadhyay, whose homes are located in the neighbourhood.
For Ho-Chi-Minh Sarani, Roy proposed the name of civil rights leader Martin Luther King. He said the road had been named after Ho Chi Minh because the United States consulate was located on the street and argued that renaming it would honour King instead. He also called for the removal of a Lenin statue at the intersection of Jawaharlal Nehru Road and Sidho Kanho Dahar, and suggested that a prominent thoroughfare be named after Sardar Patel.
The review could also affect Biswa Bangla Sarani. The panel may recommend renaming it Shri Krishna Chaitanya Avenue, according to earlier reporting cited by the Times of India.
Several existing names have historical links to earlier political periods. Dharmatalla Street was renamed Lenin Sarani in 1970 during celebrations marking Lenin’s birth centenary. Circular Garden Reach Road was renamed Karl Marx Sarani the following year. Ho-Chi-Minh Sarani was earlier named after John Herbert Harrington, a British colonial administrator and orientalist who served in Bengal.
Roy also proposed changes to places named after figures he described as “communal Muslims”. He suggested that a bus stand in Barasat named after Titumir could instead honour essayist Kazi Abdul Wadud, educator Begum Rokeya or writer S Wajid Ali.
The panel’s first meeting after Durga Puja will determine which proposals are taken forward for formal recommendation to the Assembly.
