Kolkata: The West Bengal capital would not have roads or areas named after Mughals, Pathans or oppressive British rulers, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said on Tuesday in the face of the opposition's allegation of distorting history after a major city road was renamed.
Speaking in the Assembly during a discussion on the governor's address, he announced the formation of a committee to review the names of roads and areas.
His remarks assume significance against the backdrop of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) renaming the Suhrawardy Avenue, a major thoroughfare in the city's Park Circus area, as Gopal Mukherjee Road.
On Tuesday, the state assembly witnessed a debate over the historical reference behind the original name of the road.
Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee raised questions over the renaming of the Suhrawardy Avenue and said history was being distorted.
He argued that Suhrawardy Avenue was not named after former Pakistani PM Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, who has been linked to the "The Great Calcutta Killings of 1946, but after his grandfather, Maulana Obaidullah Suhrawardy.
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The road was named in 1932 after Sir Hassan Suhrawardy, a noted physician and the first Muslim Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta. He was the uncle of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy.
The naming was done by the erstwhile Calcutta Improvement Trust.
Adhikari, however, countered Banerjee's claim by citing historical references, including that of freedom fighter Bina Das, and said that no Mughal or Pathan names would be retained in Kolkata's road nomenclature.
"The Suhrawardy name will not remain. There will be no Mughal, Pathan or oppressive British names in Kolkata," Adhikari said.
He announced the formation of a committee to review the names of roads and public places.
The panel would be headed by Swami Pradiptananda, widely known as Karthik Maharaj, Adhikari said, adding that people could submit suggestions to the committee. "Only the names of genuine patriots will be considered," he said.
"Except for Sister Nivedita, no foreign name will remain. If there are genuine patriots like APJ Abdul Kalam, give us the information, and the state government will honour them. You cannot erase Bengali culture and pride," the chief minister added.
Although Adhikari has hailed the renaming of Suhrawardy Avenue, describing it as a step towards correcting a "historical wrong", it has triggered a political row, with Congress leaders Pawan Khera and Jairam Ramesh, as well as the CPI(M), accusing the BJP-led state government of ignoring historical facts.
Khera alleged that BJP leaders had confused Sir Hassan Suhrawardy, the noted physician and former vice-chancellor of the University of Calcutta, after whom the road was named, with Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, the last premier of undivided Bengal.
The CPI(M), in a statement, said the campaign in favour of the renaming was based on a "historically incorrect narrative" that the avenue had been named after Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy.
