Hyderabad: President of Telangana Jagruthi K Kavitha, on Friday, January 23, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to rename Andaman and Nicobar Islands as “Azad Hind” to honour Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
Kavitha recalled that on December 30, 1943, under the provisional government of Azad Hind, Bose had hoisted the national flag in Port Blair and declared “Shaheed Dweep” (Andaman) and “Swaraj Dweep” (Nicobar) islands as the first Indian territory to be liberated from colonial rule.
She said that while in recent years individual islands have been renamed, the collective identity of the archipelago still carries the nomenclature imposed by the British Raj.
“The name “Azad Hind” is not merely a title; it is a testament to the first breath of sovereignty our nation took. This step would not merely restore a name steeped in patriotic fervour but would etch Netaji’s contributions indelibly into the geography of our sovereign Republic,” she said in her letter.
Saying that maps reflecting the achievements of our freedom fighters is a matter of national pride, Kavitha urged the Centre to initiate the necessary constitutional and administrative processes for the name change.
