A 10-member West Bengal government committee is reviewing proposals to rename several roads, bridges and public places across the state, including three well-known Kolkata roads associated with communist leaders Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx and Ho Chi Minh. The committee is yet to make any final decision, with recommendations expected to determine whether the proposed changes go ahead.
The panel, headed by Swami Pradiptananda, popularly known as Kartik Maharaj of Bharat Sevashram, is expected to hold its first meeting after Durga Puja. The proposed renaming of Lenin Sarani, Karl Marx Sarani and Ho Chi Minh Sarani is likely to be discussed during the meeting before recommendations are sent to the state Assembly.
Committee members include former Meghalaya governor Tathagata Roy, Chief Minister's adviser Subrata Gupta and Kolkata Municipal Corporation Commissioner Smita Pandey.
The panel will examine the historical relevance of personalities commemorated through public names in relation to Indian and Bengali heritage and culture. Roy has proposed renaming Lenin Sarani after mathematician and former Bharatiya Jana Sangh president Debaprasad Ghosh. He suggested Michael Madhusudan Dutt or Rangalal Bandyopadhyay for Karl Marx Sarani and Martin Luther King Jr. for Ho Chi Minh Sarani.
Roy has also proposed removing the Lenin statue at the Jawaharlal Nehru Road-Sidhho-Kanhu Dahar crossing and naming a major city road after Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Lenin Sarani, formerly Dharmatala Street, was renamed in 1970 during Lenin's birth centenary celebrations. Circular Garden Reach Road was renamed Karl Marx Sarani in 1971.
The exercise has sparked debate over whether replacing established names could reshape or diminish Kolkata's political and cultural history.
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