Andaman’s Ross, Neil & Havelock Islands to be renamed by PM Modi

December 27: The present government is all set to rename three islands in the Andaman and Nicobar. Andaman’s Ross Island, Neil Island and Havelock Island will now get new names. PM Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh are set to hoist a 150 metre high national flag at Port Blair on 30 December to commemorate 75 years since freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose declared the formation of the Azad Hind government.

The government has decided to rename Havelock Island as Swaraj Dweep as a tribute to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. BJP leader LA Ganesan had suggested that the place carrying the name of a British general – Sir Henry Havelock – who had fought Indian patriots in 1857 was a matter of shame. Further, the computer has also contemplated to rename Ross Island as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Island and Neil Island as Shahid Dweep to commemorate the exploits of Netaji and his Indian National Army (INA).

Bose had hoisted the national flag at the then Gymkhana Ground (now Netaji Stadium) in Port Blair on December 30, 1943 and announced that Andaman and Nicobar islands were the first Indian territory to be freed. The islands at the time were captured by the Japanese during World War II.

Change in name of places has become a recent trend. Well, the country seems to be passing through a spell of renaming. Had he been alive, Shakespeare would have never pronounced “what’s in a name?’ We are passing through a phase wherein places named after any Mughal or European are being reversed by the present political dispensation.

Recently, we saw several such attempts of renaming place names in the state of Uttar Pradesh. MughalSarai Junction has been renamed as Pt. Deen dayal Upadhay Junction. Three weeks after the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government renamed Allahabad as Prayagraj, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced that Faizabad district will now be known as Ayodhya. He also announced a medical college that would be named after Lord Ram’s father in the epic Ramayana, Raja Dashrath. An airport in Ayodhya will be named after Lord Ram. Last month, Ekana Stadium at Lucknow was renamed as “Bharat Ratan Atal Bihari Vajpayee International Cricket Stadium” by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister.