- KMC renames Suhrawardy Avenue.
- BJP hails move as historical correction.
- TMC says wrong Suhrawardy targeted.
- Debate centres on Bengal’s Partition history.
GG News Bureau
Kolkata, 22nd June: The renaming of Suhrawardy Avenue as Gopal Mukherjee Road has sparked a fresh political confrontation between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, with both sides clashing over the historical identity linked to the road’s original name.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) issued a notification renaming the road after Gopal Mukherjee, popularly known as Gopal Patha, who is remembered by many as a protector of Hindus during the 1946 Calcutta riots.
BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari welcomed the decision, describing it as a correction of a historical wrong. He alleged that the name Suhrawardy represented the legacy of the 1946 Direct Action Day violence and said the renaming honoured a figure who protected innocent lives during the riots.
The Trinamool Congress, however, rejected this interpretation, with party leader Kunal Ghosh stating that the road was named after Dr Sir Hassan Suhrawardy, a renowned physician and the first Muslim Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University, not his nephew Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, who was the Prime Minister of undivided Bengal during the 1946 riots.
Ghosh said any action based on confusion between the two individuals would be unfortunate and urged the authorities to verify historical records.
Historians note that Suhrawardy Avenue was named in 1933 after Sir Hassan Suhrawardy, years before the Calcutta killings of 1946. The controversy has once again brought Bengal’s complex Partition-era history into the centre of political debate.
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