Row over KMC move to rename Suhrawardy Avenue after Gopal Mukherjee

AConclusion by the calcutta Municipal corp (KMC) to rename the urban center’s Suhrawardy boulevard after Gopal Mukherjee - a man who took up arms to protect Hindus during the 1947 communal riots - triggered a row in West Bengal on Sunday with politicians and academicians calling it a faux pas by the state’s new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.They pointed out that the arterial road in the Park Circus area was named after Sir Hassan Suhrawardy—an academic, art critic and the first Muslim vice-chancellor of the University of Calcutta—in 1933, a year after he received a knighthood, and not after his relative Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, the prime minister of undivided Bengal in 1947, who critics accuse of engineering riots targeting Hindus.The row started on Sunday when the order surfaced and chief minister Suvendu Adhikari welcomed it.“I commend the historic decision taken by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, yesterday, on the solemn occasion of Paschimbanga Divas, which would be instrumental in rectifying a historical wrong. Suhrawardy Avenue will now be renamed as Gopal Mukherjee Road. For decades, a major artery of our city bore the name of someone who wilfully misused state power as a weapon, orchestrating the massacre of innocent citizens for sheer political gain,” Adhikari wrote on X.“By renaming it after Shri Gopal Mukherjee, the fearless soul who stepped up as a protector-in-chief to defend and save thousands of innocent lives, finally restoration of historical justice will be achieved by honouring a true guardian and savior. It’s time, West Bengal remembers, corrects and honours the Real Heroes,” he added.Shantanu Mukherjee, the grandson of Gopal Mukherjee, welcomed the government’s decision.“My family is grateful to chief minister Suvendu Adhikari for recognising a man whose role in history was not acknowledged in the past,” he said.Also Read:Bengal finally on path envisioned in 1947: PM ModiVeteran Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said Bengal’s history is being distorted. “What we are witnessing is a distortion of Bengal’s real history,” Chowdhury said.Former Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabhya member Saket Gokhale wrote: “This is what happens when absolute fools take control of the govt. Suhrawardy Avenue in Kolkata was named after Hassan Suhrawardy - an academic and art critic who also became the first Muslim Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University. The road was named in his honor in April 1933. The road was NOT named after Huseyn Suhrawardy who is known as the Butcher of Bengal.”“We know that BJP hates books and knowledge. But a simple online search would have told them this. The fact that NO ONE from KMC to the CM’s office bothered to even find out the truth reflects on how the BJP Govt is being run. Bengal, which has a rich intellectual history, is now sadly being run by people who are allergic to history, intelligence and facts.” Gokhale added.Political science professor Udayan Bandopadhyay said, “This is a great faux pas by the Bengal government.”“Sir Hassan Suhrawardy was a noted academician of that era. As vice-chancellor of Calcutta University, he invited Rabindranath Tagore to serve as the Ramtanu Lahiri chair professor in the department of Bengali. Tagore delivered his famous speech ‘Manusher Dharma,’ which he earlier delivered in English in Oxford in 1931,” Bandopadhyay said.Bengal BJP’s chief spokesperson Debjit Sarkar said, “The KMC authorities can explain how this road was selected for renaming. We are happy that Kolkata has a road named after the man who protected the lives and honour of thousands.”Mukherjee, after whom the road is renamed, used to run his family’s mutton shop on Bowbazar Street during the partition and became popularly known as ‘Gopal Patha’ (patha in Bangla means goat), gaining fame for organising an armed resistance during the riots known in history as the Great Calcutta Killings.KMC, run by a state-appointed administrator following the resignation of mayor Firhad Hakim and other TMC councillors, took the decision on Saturday when the BJP government observed Paschimbanga Divas or West Bengal Day.“KMC has decided that the road known as Suhrawardy Avenue in KMC area will be named and henceforth be known as Gopal Mukherjee Road,” said the one-line order signed on June 20 by KMC administrator and municipal commissioner Smita Pandey.