Bengal Panel Mulls Renaming Lenin, Marx, Ho Chi Minh Roads

• Lenin Sarani, Karl Marx Sarani and Ho Chi Minh Sarani are among the roads under consideration.
• BJP leader Tathagata Roy has proposed alternative names for the three thoroughfares.
• The committee is expected to discuss the proposals after Durga Puja in October.
• TMC has opposed renaming the roads, calling the move politically motivated.

GG News Bureau
Kolkata, 15th Sept: A 10-member committee constituted by the West Bengal government is considering proposals to rename several roads, bridges and public places in the state, including three prominent Kolkata roads named after communist leaders Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx and Ho Chi Minh.

The committee, headed by Swami Pradiptananda, popularly known as Kartik Maharaj of Bharat Sevashram Sangha, is expected to hold its first meeting after Durga Puja, when proposals concerning Kolkata’s roads are likely to be discussed.

BJP leader and committee member Tathagata Roy said no decision had been taken and recommendations would be submitted after the Durga Puja festivities in October for a final decision by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).

Roy proposed renaming Karl Marx Sarani in Kidderpore after Bengali poets Michael Madhusudan Dutt or Rangalal Bandyopadhyay, citing their association with the area. For Lenin Sarani, formerly known as Dharmatala Street, he suggested the name of mathematician and former Bharatiya Jana Sangh president Debaprasad Ghosh.

For Ho Chi Minh Sarani, Roy proposed the name of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. He also suggested that an important road in Kolkata be named after Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

Roy said the committee would also consider proposals concerning places named after Muslim personalities. He suggested names including writer Qazi Abdul Wadud, educationist Begum Rokeya and author S Wajed Ali as alternatives for a Titumir-named bus stand in Barasat.

He also proposed to Metro Railway authorities that some stations on the Tollygunge-Garia stretch of the Blue Line be named after the respective localities instead of personalities, arguing that this could help commuters and residents identify the areas more easily.

Asked whether the Lenin statue at Esplanade would be removed, Roy said that if such a proposal was made, he hoped the relevant board would consider it.

The committee includes Chief Minister’s adviser Subrata Gupta, Kolkata Municipal Corporation Commissioner Smita Pandey and other members. Roy said the recommendations would subsequently be sent to the state Assembly.

The proposals have drawn criticism from the Trinamool Congress (TMC). Party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh described the move as “vendetta politics” and said that ideological differences with Communists should not lead to the removal of Lenin’s name from Lenin Sarani.

Ghosh said the TMC would resist any attempt to change the name and argued that roads and Metro stations named after distinguished personalities should retain their names where those figures have a connection with the locality.

He cited personalities such as journalist and writer Barun Sengupta and actor Uttam Kumar as examples, saying Kolkata had developed a culture of honouring distinguished figures by naming public places after them.

Ghosh alleged that the BJP was creating a “destructive” political climate by seeking to remove names associated with people holding different ideologies.