A committee headed by a Hindu monk will “evaluate” the names of Calcutta’s roads, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said in the Bengal Assembly on Tuesday.

Suvendu left no room for doubt regarding the panel’s purpose.

“Roads in Calcutta will not be named after Mughals and Pathans.... When I cross Park Circus Seven Point, I see the plaque (Suhrawardy Avenue). The Suhrawardy name will not remain.... A committee to evaluate the naming (of roads) under the leadership of Swami Pradiptananda Maharaj (also known as Kartik Maharaj) has been announced. Any proposal should be submitted to the panel,” said Suvendu.

In Calcutta, there are roads and neighbourhoods named after Muslims, Christians and Hindus, in a way that these religious lines get blurred in the syncretic culture of
the city.

Some colonial names have been replaced with those of Indian heroes and luminaries. That is how Harrison Road became Mahatma Gandhi Road, Cornwallis Street became Bidhan Sarani, and Lansdowne Road became Sarat Bose Road.

But changing a road name based on religion was unheard of until three days ago.

In a June 20 circular, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation renamed Suhrawardy Avenue in Park Circus as Gopal Mukherjee Road.

Suvendu had lauded the move, saying no road should be named after someone who had blood on his hands. But he appeared to have confused scholar Hassan Suhrawardy with the “Butcher of Bengal”, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy.

On Tuesday, the chief minister suggested that no Suhrawardy could merit being on a road name. Suvendu, however, cited former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as an example of a “good Muslim”.

“The names of Mughals and Pathans will not be there... If you want to honour a true patriot like A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, provide information, and we will give due respect. But why Suhrawardy?” he asked.

In Calcutta, VIP Road is Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue; Wellesley Street is Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road; Narkeldanga Main Road is Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Sarani; and Waterloo Street is Nawab Sirajuddaullah Sarani.

Whether these people qualify as “true patriots” will now be evaluated by the panel headed by Swami Pradiptananda of the Bharat Sevashram Sangha’s Beldanga ashram, better known as Kartik Maharaj, among the nine Padma Shri awardees from Bengal in 2025.

During last year’s Lok Sabha election campaign, then Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had accused Kartik Maharaj of interfering in the poll process. Kartik Maharaj responded by sending a legal notice to her and demanded a public apology.

The city’s most expensive real estate is a place called Alipore. Kasba, Ekbalpore and Metiabruz are thriving neighbourhoods.

Not all attempts to rechristen roads in Calcutta have been successful. Park Street remains that and not Mother Teresa Sarani. So does Ballygunge Circular Road. There are many such examples.

Normally, several steps have to be followed for a road to be renamed. The proposal from a road-renaming committee goes to the mayor-in-council, and if it approves, people are allowed to raise objections. In the absence of any objection, the proposal is placed in the civic House for a formal nod.

All these steps were bypassed when Suhrawardy Avenue was renamed Gopal Mukherjee Road because the civic House has been dissolved, and a bureaucrat is running the city’s civic body. Kolkata Municipal Corporation administrator Smita Pandey was not available for comment on Tuesday.