From Lenin Sarani to Park Circus, Kolkata roads face renaming review
A West Bengal government committee set up to examine proposals for renaming roads, bridges and other public places began work on Monday, with its chairman Swami Pradiptananda, popularly known as Kartik Maharaj, indicating that several prominent Kolkata roads could come up for review.
On his first day at the Kolkata Municipal Corporation headquarters, Kartik Maharaj said the panel had received proposals on Lenin Sarani, Karl Marx Sarani, Biswa Bangla Sarani and the Park Circus Seven Point Crossing. He also said the exercise would cover several roads and public places and that members of the public and social organisations could submit suggestions.
The Left Front government had named two roads after Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx, while Biswa Bangla Sarani got its name during the Trinamool Congress era. Park Circus, a prominent Muslim-majority neighbourhood, was named during the British era. Kartik Maharaj also said the committee had received a proposal to name a road after IPS officer Vinod Mehta, who was killed in the line of duty in 1984.
His remarks are significant because the 10-member panel had so far largely been linked to proposals involving roads named after communist leaders such as Lenin, Karl Marx and Ho Chi Minh. Last week, committee member and senior BJP leader Tathagata Roy had said, "No decision has been taken yet" and that the panel would examine the proposals after Durga Puja before making recommendations to the competent authorities.
Kartik Maharaj, however, suggested that the review would be wider. He said names of public places would in future be considered with reference to India's "great personalities" and its cultural traditions. Besides him and Roy, the panel includes the chief minister's adviser Subrata Gupta, Kolkata Municipal Corporation Commissioner Smita Pandey and senior officials from different government departments.
The proposed renaming of Kolkata roads associated with the communist era has already drawn a political response from the Trinamool Congress. TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh had said the party would oppose any move to change the name of Lenin Sarani, arguing that the issue was not merely about Lenin but about respecting people who represented different political philosophies.
The Left has long been associated with several of Kolkata's prominent street names, and Lenin Sarani, Karl Marx Sarani and Ho Chi Minh Sarani remain visible reminders of a period when the communist movement had considerable influence over the city's public life. The latest exercise has again raised the question of whether public spaces should retain names linked to Kolkata's political history or be renamed after other historical, cultural and national figures.
Roy had earlier suggested that Karl Marx Sarani in Kidderpore could be renamed after Bengali poets Michael Madhusudan Dutt or Rangalal Bandyopadhyay because of their association with the area. For Lenin Sarani, he had proposed the name of mathematician and former Bharatiya Jana Sangh president Debaprasad Ghosh, while for Ho Chi Minh Sarani he had suggested American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. He had also proposed changes to certain names associated with Muslim personalities, suggesting figures such as writer Qazi Abdul Wadud and educationist Begum Rokeya in specific cases.
The committee's recommendations will still need approval from the competent authorities, and no final decision has been announced on any name. For now, the signboards remain unchanged, but with the panel starting work from its office at the KMC headquarters, some of Kolkata's best-known roads are once again under official review.- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Sep 21, 2026 23:55 IST
