Bengal panel examining proposals to rename roads

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 Kolkata thoroughfares named after communist leaders Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx, and Ho Chi Minh.

The panel, headed by Swami Pradiptananda, popularly known as Kartik Maharaj of Bharat Sevashram, is expected to hold its first meeting after Durga Puja, when proposals for renaming roads in Kolkata are likely to be taken up, a Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) official said on Monday (September 14, 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 change in names will be based on the committee’s recommendations, the official said.

Among the members of the panel are former Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy, Chief Minister’s Adviser Subrata Gupta, and Kolkata Municipal Corporation Commissioner Smita Pandey.

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

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

Kartik Maharaj said the committee’s recommendations would subsequently 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 Michael Madhusudan Dutt or Rangalal Bandyopadhyay, citing their association with the area.

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

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

Lenin Sarani was earlier known as Dharmatala Street and was renamed in 1970 during celebrations marking Lenin’s birth centenary. 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 personalities whom he described as “nationalist Muslims”.

He proposed, among others, the names of writer Qazi Abdul Wadud, educationist Begum Rokeya and author S. Wajed Ali as alternatives for the Titumir-named bus stand in Barasat near Kolkata.

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

The committee is currently examining the proposals and no road name has been officially changed so far. The final decision will be taken after the panel submits its recommendations, the official said.