Kolkata, Feb. 5 -- In a bid to "move away from the colonial legacy", the Indian Army has renamed its Eastern Command headquarters Fort William in Kolkata as 'Vijay Durg'.
A Defence official told the media that the decision which was taken internally sought to rechristen some of the landmark buildings inside the Fort William situated in the heart of Kolkata.
For instance, the St George's Gate has been renamed as the Shivaji Gate while the Kitchener House has been renamed as Manekshaw House.
Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw was the chief of Army Staff during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. Kitchener House was originally named after HH Kitchener, the First Earl Of Khartoum.
Russell Block has been renamed as Bagha Jatin Block after freedom fighter Jatindranath Mukherjee, better known as Bagha Jatin, who fell to the bullets of the British police following a gunfight in Odisha's Balasore in 1915.
The renaming decision is learnt to have been made last year in November-December.
Meanwhile, a section of veteran army officers have criticised the move, alleging that this was akin to changing history and is agenda driven.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.