The dispute over possible street renaming in Kolkata has widened, with the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) calling for a public citizen convention involving several Left parties and CPI(ML) Liberation. The proposed programme is intended to respond to indications that roads named after international political figures could be considered for renaming.
The move follows the formation of a 10-member government committee led by Swami Pradiptananda, also known as Kartik Maharaj, to consider names for roads in the state. According to the report, the committee has not yet submitted any proposal to the government or the Kolkata municipal authorities on changing the name of a specific road.
However, statements from BJP leaders have raised the possibility of changes to roads named after foreign political figures. The report says BJP leaders have questioned why Kolkata roads should continue to bear the names of Karl Marx, Lenin and Ho Chi Minh. Lenin Sarani and Mayo Road are among the roads that could be considered, according to indications cited in the report, although no formal proposal has been announced.
The report also refers to a possibility being discussed within the government of renaming a major Kolkata road currently associated with an international communist leader after former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. The proposal, if made, would add a state-level political figure to the dispute over the historical and political identities represented in the city’s street names.
Chandidas Bhattacharya, state secretary of the SUCI, has written to the CPI(M), four Left Front partners and CPI(ML) Liberation seeking a public convention. He said the BJP government wanted to remove the names of figures who had contributed to the progress of human civilisation. The date of the proposed convention has not yet been finalised, the report said.
BJP legislator Sajol Ghosh has questioned the relevance of Marx and Lenin to India and said roads named after foreign political leaders had been created for political purposes and self-promotion. He also said he would not object to naming a Kolkata road after Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee instead of a foreign leader.
CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty defended the wider historical significance of figures such as Marx and Lenin and criticised the proposed renaming debate. He said changing road names would not bring genuine change or secure a place for those figures in people’s consciousness.
The dispute has also prompted discussion within the Left about how it would respond if roads were named after older Left leaders, a move that could place the party in a politically difficult position. For now, the government committee has not publicly submitted a road-renaming recommendation, and the next formal step remains the proposed citizen convention.
