The Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s (KMC) decision to rename the city’s Suhrawardy Street after Gopal Mukherjee – the man who took up arms to protect Hindus during the 1947 communal riots – sparked a row in West Bengal on Sunday, with politicians and academics calling it a mistake by the new BJP government in the state.
They point out that the arterial road in the Park Circus area was named after Sir Hasan Suhrawardy – an academic, art critic and the first Muslim vice-chancellor of Calcutta University – in 1933, a year after he received a knighthood, and not after his relative Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, the prime minister of undivided Bengal in 1947, whom critics accuse of masterminding riots targeting Hindus.
The row started on Sunday when the matter came to light and was welcomed by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
“I applaud the historic decision taken by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, yesterday, on the occasion of the Pachimbanga Divas celebration, which will be instrumental in correcting a historical wrong. Suhrawardy Road will now be renamed as Gopal Mukherjee Road. For decades, one of the main arteries of our city has been named after someone who deliberately abuses state power as a weapon, and orchestrates the massacre of innocent citizens for sheer political gain,” Adhikari wrote on X.
“By renaming it after Shri Gopal Mukherjee, the brave soul who rose as Public Protector to defend and save thousands of innocent lives, the restoration of historical justice will finally be achieved by honoring the true guardian and savior. It is time West Bengal remembers, corrects and honors the true heroes,” he added.
Shantanu Mukherjee, grandson of Gopal Mukherjee, welcomed the government’s decision.
“My family is grateful to Prime Minister Suvendu Adhikari for honoring a man whose role in history has gone unrecognized in the past,” he said.
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Veteran Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said Bengal’s history is being distorted. “What we are witnessing is a distortion of the true history of Bengal,” Chowdhury said.
Former Trinamool Congress (TMC) member Rajya Sabhia Saket Gokhale wrote: “This is what happens when absolute idiots control the government. Suhrawardy Road in Kolkata is named after Hassan Suhrawardy – an academic and art critic who also became the first Muslim vice-chancellor of Calcutta University. The road was named in his honor in April 1933. The road was not named after Hussain Suhrawardy, known as the Butcher of Bengal.”
“We know that the BJP hates books and knowledge. But a simple internet search would have told them so. The fact that no one from the KMC to the Prime Minister’s Office bothered to find out the truth reflects the way the BJP government is being run. Bengal, which has a rich intellectual history, is now unfortunately run by people who are allergic to history, intelligence and facts,” he said. Gokhale added.
“This is a big mistake by the Bengal government,” said political science professor Udayan Bandopadhyay.
“Sir Hassan Suhrawardy was a famous academician of that era. As Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta, he invited Rabindranath Tagore to serve as Ramtanu Lahiri Chair Professor in the Department of Bengali. Tagore gave his famous ‘Manusher Dharma’ speech, which he had previously delivered in English at Oxford in 1931,” Bandopadhyay said.
Bengal BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar said: “The KMC authorities can explain how this road was chosen to be renamed. We are happy that Kolkata has a road named after the man who protected the lives and honor of thousands.”
Mukherjee, after whom the road was renamed, ran his family’s mutton shop on Boobazar Street during Partition and became widely known as “Gopal Patha” (patha in Bengali means goat), gaining notoriety for organizing armed resistance during the riots known in history as the Great Calcutta Killings.
The KMC, which is run by a state-appointed official after the resignation of mayor Firhad Hakim and other TMC councillors, took the decision on Saturday when the BJP government celebrated Paschimbanga Divas Day or West Bengal Day.
“KMC has decided that the road known as Suhrawardy Road in KMC area shall henceforth be named as Gopal Mukherjee Road,” said the one-line order signed by KMC director and municipal commissioner Smita Pandey on June 20.
