No road to have names of British, Mughals, Pathans: CM Adhikari tells Assembly

KOlkata: w Bengal chief government minister Suvendu Adhikari on tues said calcutta would non have roads named after Mughals, Pathans or oppressive British rulers, as he defended the Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s decision to rename Suhrawardy Avenue as Gopal Mukherjee Road.Speaking in the assembly during a discussion on the governor’s address, Adhikari backed the June 20 decision to rename the arterial road in the Park Circus area after Gopal Mukherjee, who took up arms to protect Hindus during the 1946 communal riots, historically known as the Great Calcutta Killings.“I don’t know who took the decision but I fully support it. Bengal cannot have a road named after Suhrawardy,” Adhikari said.His remarks came amid a debate in the state assembly over the historical reference behind the original name of the road.Since the renaming, several academics and Trinamool Congress leaders have argued that the road was named after Sir Hassan Suhrawardy, an academic, art critic and the first Muslim vice-chancellor of the University of Calcutta, and not after Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, the last premier of undivided Bengal who has long been accused by critics of being linked to the 1946 Great Calcutta Killings.Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee raised questions over the renaming of the Suhrawardy Avenue and said history was being distorted. Some people have even claimed that the road was named not after Sir Hassan Suhrawardy but his father Ubaidullah Al Ubaidi Suhrawardy, a Muslim scholar. Ritabrata mentioned this in his speech at the assembly.“Whenever I passed through the Park Circus seven-point crossing I saw the name Suhrawardy written on a road. That name cannot be there. If you feel that there is someone like Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, a true patriot and nationalist, who needs to be honoured, give us the information, and we will consider it,” Adhikari said.Referring to Banerjee’s speech, the chief minister said Sir Hassan Suhrawardy was honoured with a knighthood after handing over freedom fighter Bina Das following her failed attempt to shoot then Bengal governor Sir Stanley Jackson during a University of Calcutta convocation in 1932.“You claimed the road was named after another Suhrawardy. I have also talked to people who reviewed historical records. The vice-chancellor was given knighthood because he handed Bina Das to the British. There will be no Mughal, Pathan or oppressive British names in Kolkata,” Adhikari said.He also announced that a committee headed by Padma Shri awardee Swami Pradiptananda would review proposals for renaming roads and public places in the state.EOM