The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has renamed Suhrawardy Avenue in the Park Circus area as Gopal Mukherjee Road, honouring Gopal Mukherjee, popularly known as Gopal Patha, a figure associated with the communal violence in Kolkata during the Direct Action Day period of 1946. The decision has triggered a political controversy in West Bengal.
The renaming move was welcomed by supporters who argued that the earlier name was linked to a controversial chapter of Bengal’s history and that Gopal Mukherjee’s role during the 1946 unrest deserved recognition. However, opposition parties criticised the decision, alleging that the change was based on a historical misunderstanding.
The controversy centres around the identity of the person after whom Suhrawardy Avenue was originally named. Historical records indicate that the road was named after Hassan Shaheed Suhrawardy, a Bengali diplomat, scholar and art critic who also served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta, and not after his nephew Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, the former Prime Minister of undivided Bengal who was associated with the political events surrounding the 1946 Direct Action Day riots.
The distinction between the two members of the Suhrawardy family has become a major point of debate. Critics of the renaming have argued that the government confused Hassan Suhrawardy with HuseynSuhrawardy while taking the decision. Congress and Trinamool Congress leaders have questioned the historical basis of the move, accusing the government of overlooking facts.
According to historical accounts, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation had named the road “Suhrawardy Avenue” in 1933 after the residence of Sir Hassan Suhrawardy located along the road.
The renaming has once again brought the debate over historical memory, public spaces and political symbolism in Kolkata into focus, with parties across the political spectrum exchanging allegations over the decision.
