Bengal Panel Examining Road Renaming Proposals

Image used for representational purposes only. | Photo credit: PTI

A 10-member committee set up by the West Bengal government is examining proposals to rename several roads, bridges and public places in the state, including three prominent streets in Kolkata named after communist leaders Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx and Ho Chi Minh.

A panel headed by Swami Pradiptananda, popularly known as Kartik Maharaj of Bharat Sevashram, is expected to hold its first meeting after Durga Puja, when suggestions for renaming roads in Kolkata are likely to be taken, a Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) official said on Monday (14 Sep 2026).

The three roads under consideration are Lenin Sarani, Karl Marx Sarani and Ho Chi Minh Sarani.

No decision has been taken yet and any name change will be based on the committee’s recommendations, the official said.

The panel members include former Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy, Chief Minister’s Advisor Subrata Gupta and Kolkata Municipal Corporation Commissioner Smita Pandey.

Kartik Maharaj told reporters that the panel will consider the relevance of the personalities after whom the roads have been named in the context of Indian and Bengali heritage, Sanskrit and culture.

“Ho Chi Minh Sarani, Lenin Sarani and Karl Marx Sarani will be renamed. Proposals to change the names of other roads have also been accepted,” he said.

Kartik Maharaj said that the committee’s recommendations would then be sent to the state assembly.

Mr. Roy, a former BJP state chief, advocated renaming Lenin Sarani after mathematician and former Bharatiya Jana Sangh president Debaprasad Ghosh, the official said.

Mr. Roy suggested that Karl Marx Sarani in Kidderpore could be named after Bengali poets Michaela Madhusudan Dutt or Rangalal Bandyopadhyay, referring to their association with the area.

For Ho Chi Minh Sarani, Mr. Roy suggested the name of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Mr. Roy also called for the removal of the Lenin statue at the Jawaharlal Nehru Road and Sidhho-Kanhu Dahar junction and suggested that an important city road be named after Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, a KMC official said.

Lenin Sarani was earlier known as Dharmatala Street and was renamed in 1970 during the centenary celebrations of Lenin’s birth. Circular Garden Reach Road was renamed Karl Marx Sarani the following year.

Mr. Roy also suggested that some places bearing the names of Muslim figures should be renamed after figures he described as “nationalist Muslims”.

He suggested the names of writer Qazi Abdul Wadud, educationist Begum Rokeyi and author S. Wajed Ali, among others, as alternatives to a bus stop called Titumir at Barasat near Kolkata.

The proposed exercise has already raised questions about whether changing long-established names could erase or change aspects of Kolkata’s political and cultural history.

The commission is currently reviewing the proposals and no road name has been officially changed yet. A final decision will be taken after the panel submits its recommendations, the official said.

Published – 14 Sep 2026 12:04 IST