Intellectual bankruptcy, says Congress after Suvendu government renames Suhrawardy road
The Congress on Monday (June 22, 2026) criticised the BJP government in West Bengal for renaming Kolkata’s Suhrawardy Avenue ‘Gopal Mukherjee Road’, with party leader
The Congress on Monday (June 22, 2026) criticised the BJP government in West Bengal for renaming Kolkata’s Suhrawardy Avenue ‘Gopal Mukherjee Road’, with party leader Pawan Khera accusing it of displaying “intellectual bankruptcy”. In a post on X, the Congress’ media and publicity department chairman cited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s message in the book Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee: The Great Educationist to argue that Dr. Mookerjee, Hindutva ideologue and Jana Sangh founder, had been a supporter of Dr. Hassan Suhrawardy, after whom the avenue was named. Dr. Suhrawardy was the first Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University.
Sharing excerpts from the publication, Mr. Khera said the BJP’s position on the issue was at odds with its own ideological references. “Bhakt-Brigade should do what it is best at doing — WhatsApp satsang with each other. Spare the country from your intellectual bankruptcy please,” he wrote. The name of the road, located in Kolkata’s Park Circus area, has often been criticised by right-wing groups because they believe it is named after Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy (1892-1963), a prominent Bengali politician who served as the last Prime Minister of undivided Bengal and later as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
He has been criticised for his role in the 1946 communal violence. “Typical of BJP’s abysmal ignorance to remove name of Dr Hassan Suhrawardy, 1st Muslim Vice-chancellor of Calcutta [University] when they targeted his nephew Huseyn Suhrawardy, Premier of Bengal who instigated 1946 Calcutta Riots. Why don’t they read history sometime?” the former Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP, Jawhar Sircar, said in a post on X. The Opposition leaders issued the statements a day after West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari welcomed the Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s decision to rename the road after Gopal Mukherjee, who “saved” many Hindu families during the “Great Calcutta Killings” of 1946.
Adhikari described the move as the correction of a “historical wrong” and linked the name Suhrawardy to Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, the then Premier of undivided Bengal, who has been criticised for his role during the communal violence that followed the Muslim League’s Direct Action Day call in 1946. However, old editions of the Calcutta Municipal Gazette indicate that the road was named Suhrawardy Avenue in 1932-33, long before Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy emerged on the political scene.
The BriefWire