India's Hindu nationalists eye Kolkata's Communist street names

India's Hindu-nationalist government in West Bengal is considering renaming Kolkata streets honouring Communist leaders chosen by past left-wing state administrations, officials said Wednesday.

"We have received a number of proposals for changing the names of the streets named after Lenin, Karl Marx and Ho Chi Minh," said Swami Pradiptananda, who is heading a 10-member committee examining the issue. "We are considering the proposal."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won power in the eastern state of more than 100 million people for the first time in May, ending the 15-year rule of the populist Trinamool Congress, which took over from the Communist Party.

"The committee will try to make amends for the mischiefs committed by the leftists," said Tathagata Roy, former governor of the Indian states of Tripura and Meghalaya and a senior member of the committee.

"Streets honouring Lenin, Marx and Ho Chi Minh would definitely be renamed," he told AFP.

The streets were renamed by West Bengal's Communist government when they held power in the state in the 1970s, during the Vietnam War.

Ho Chi Minh Sarani, or street, was formerly Harrington Street, named after a British colonial official -- when Kolkata was known as Calcutta and was the capital of British India.

"Harrington Street was named after Ho Chi Minh to spite the Americans because the American consulate is located on the street," Roy said, suggesting it could instead be named after US civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Lenin Sarani was formerly Dharmatala Street -- a colonial-era name suggesting a holy site -- and was renamed in 1970 to mark the centenary of Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin's birth.

Circular Garden Reach Road was renamed Karl Marx Sarani, after the German philosopher.

Roy suggested Lenin Sarani could be named after the late Debaprasad Ghosh, a mathematician and former president of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, a precursor to Modi's ruling BJP.

The road honouring Marx could be renamed after renowned 19th-century Bengali poet Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Roy said.

"The committee will consider the relevance of the personalities to the Indian and Bengali culture to rename the streets," Roy said.

"Our recommendations will be sent to the state legislative assembly for consideration."