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Kolkata roads named after Marx, Lenin, Ho Chi Minh likely to be rechristened
BJP's Tathagata Roy said he had suggested that Karl Marx Sarani in Kidderpore be renamed after Bengali poets Michael Madhusudan Dutt or Rangalal Bandyopadhyay.
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A committee set up by West Bengal's BJP government is mulling proposals to rename several roads, bridges and public places in the state, including three prominent Kolkata thoroughfares named after communist leaders Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx and Ho Chi Minh.
The 10-member panel, 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 for renaming roads in Kolkata are likely to be taken up, a senior member of the advisory committee said on Monday.
The three roads under consideration are Lenin Sarani, Karl Marx Sarani and Ho Chi Minh Sarani.
"No decision has been taken yet, and the recommendations will be made after the Durga Puja in October," committee member and senior BJP leader Tathagata Roy told PTI.
Roy said he had suggested that Karl Marx Sarani in Kidderpore be renamed after Bengali poets Michael Madhusudan Dutt or Rangalal Bandyopadhyay, citing their association with the area.
He also proposed renaming Lenin Sarani, earlier known as Dharmatala Street, after mathematician and former Bharatiya Jana Sangh president Debaprasad Ghosh.
"All these are recommendatory to be submitted after the Pujas and for final decision by KMC," Roy said.
Asked if the Lenin statue at Esplanade crossing in the heart of the city would be removed, Roy said, "If there is a suggestion in this regard, I hope the board will think accordingly."
For Ho Chi Minh Sarani, Roy proposed the name of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
Roy also suggested that some places bearing the names of Muslim figures be renamed after personalities whom he described as "nationalist Muslims".
He proposed, among others, the names of writer Qazi Abdul Wadud, educationist Begum Rokeya and author S Wajed Ali as alternatives for the Titumir-named bus stand in Barasat.
"I have also suggested to the Metro Railway authorities that the names of certain stations in the Tollygunge-Garia stretch of the Blue Line be changed after respective places instead of names of personalities to be of help to the commuting public and residents of the area," he said.
The former Meghalaya governor also called for naming an important city road after Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Besides Roy, chief minister's adviser Subrata Gupta and Kolkata Municipal Corporation Commissioner Smita Pandey, among others, are members of the committee.
Roy said the committee's recommendations would subsequently be sent to the state Assembly.
Responding sharply to the proposals, the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the Trinamool Congress called the move an act of "vendetta politics".
Party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said they may have ideological differences with the Communists, but the name of Lenin Sarani should not be changed.
"If they try to change the name of Lenin Sarani, it will not merely be about Comrade Lenin. Such an attitude will show that they are in no way willing to show tolerance or respect towards distinguished people who hold different beliefs, subscribe to different philosophies or have different ways of thinking," Ghosh said.
The CPI(M) will certainly object to a name change involving Comrade Lenin, and the TMC too will resist the move, he said, asserting: "Lenin Sarani existed and will continue to exist."
Ghosh, however, stated the CPI(M) needs to learn a lesson from the current controversy and maintained that the party, in its "blind opposition" to the TMC, had at times strengthened the BJP and celebrated when central agencies like the ED and CBI acted against the Trinamool Congress.
"If roads are renamed with the intention of insulting someone or disrespecting a particular philosophy, that will not be acceptable under any circumstances," he said.
On the issue of renaming bid for Metro stations in Kolkata, the TMC MLA said they were named after iconic figures in symbolic honour of their connection with the respective areas and people accepted that.
"Everyone knows why Barun Sengupta's name was chosen for a Metro station. He was a distinguished journalist, writer and essayist. Wherever an area has a connection with a public figure, or where it is appropriate to honour him by naming a place after him, that name should be retained. Uttam Kumar is another example," Ghosh argued.
"We had created a culture of honouring distinguished personalities, while they (BJP) are creating a kind of destructive, negative climate aimed at destroying it," he alleged.
