India's Hindu nationalists eye Kolkata street names honoring Communists

India's Hindu-nationalist government in West Bengal is reviewing proposals to change Kolkata street names honoring Communist leaders picked by past left-wing administrations, officials said Wednesday. A 10-member committee is examining requests to rename roads linked to Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx and Ho Chi Minh, following the ruling party's first state election win in May.

Which Kolkata streets could be renamed?

The committee is focused on three roads: Lenin Sarani, Karl Marx Sarani and Ho Chi Minh Sarani. All three were renamed during Communist rule in West Bengal, replacing earlier colonial-era names. Committee member Tathagata Roy, a former governor of Tripura and Meghalaya, said the streets "would definitely be renamed."

Swami Pradiptananda, who heads the committee, said multiple proposals have already been received. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took power in the state of more than 100 million people in May, ending 15 years of rule by the Trinamool Congress, which itself had succeeded the Communist Party.

Why do the streets carry Communist names?

Lenin Sarani was formerly Dharmatala Street, a colonial-era name referring to a holy site. It was renamed in 1970 to mark the centenary of Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin's birth. Circular Garden Reach Road became Karl Marx Sarani, honoring the German philosopher.

Ho Chi Minh Sarani was originally Harrington Street, named for a British colonial official when Kolkata was still called Calcutta and served as the capital of British India. Roy said the street was renamed after the Vietnamese leader during the Vietnam War specifically to target the Americans, since the US consulate sits on that road.

What could the streets be renamed after?

Roy suggested Harrington Street's Communist-era name could give way to US civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. He proposed Lenin Sarani be renamed after Debaprasad Ghosh, a mathematician and former president of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the BJP's ideological precursor. The road honoring Marx could instead carry the name of 19th-century Bengali poet Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Roy said.

"The committee will consider the relevance of the personalities to the Indian and Bengali culture to rename the streets," Roy said. He added that the panel's recommendations will be sent to the state legislative assembly for consideration.