‘Rectified Historical Wrong’: Bengal CM Suvendu After Suhrawardy Avenue Renamed As Gopal Mukherjee Road

Last Updated:June 21, 2026, 18:37 IST

Kolkata Municipal Corporation renames Suhrawardy Avenue as Gopal Mukherjee Road. Let us know more about Gopal Mukherjee.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has announced the renaming of Suhrawardy Avenue as Gopal Mukherjee Road.

The notice, dated June 20, issued by the KMC, stated that the road named behind Suhrawardy called as Suhrawardy Avenue, will now be renamed as Gopal Mukherjee Road.

Following the announcement, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari lauded the move and said in a post on X: “I commend the historic decision taken by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, yesterday, on the solemn occasion of Paschimbanga Divas, which would be instrumental in rectifying a historical wrong."

“For decades, a major artery of our City bore the name of someone who wilfully misused state power a6s a weapon, orchestrating the massacre of innocent citizens for sheer political gain. By renaming it after Shri Gopal Mukherjee, the fearless soul who stepped up as a protector-in-chief to defend and save thousands of innocent lives, finally restoration of historical justice will be achieved by honouring a true guardian and savior. It’s time, West Bengal remembers, corrects and honours the Real Heroes," he added.

Who Was Gopal Mukherjee?

The name of Gopal Chandra Mukherjee, known locally as Gopal Patha, is linked to one of the bloodiest chapters in India’s pre-independence history — the communal violence that erupted in Calcutta during the week of August 16, 1946, now remembered as the Great Calcutta Killings.

The violence had started after the All-India Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, called for “Direct Action Day" to press its demand for a separate Muslim homeland.

On August 16, riots broke out in Calcutta and continued for nearly four days. Streets turned into battlegrounds. Shops were looted, homes set ablaze, and thousands were hacked or burned to death.

As law and order failed2, some men took it upon themselves to organise armed resistance and one amongst them was Gopal Patha, a 33-year-old from College Street who ran a goat meat shop.

Nicknamed as “Patha" due to his family business, Gopal was not just a butcher. He was a wrestler and associated with the Anushilan Samiti, a revolutionary nationalist group. Faced with reports of attacks and with no visible state protection, Patha mobilised local youth into an armed unit, which he later named Bharater Jatiya Bahini (Indian National Force).

His actions were, however, controversial. During an interview with former BBC journalist Andrew Whitehead in 1997, Gopal Patha openly admitted to forming an armed group, raising funds from local sawmills and factories, and issuing cash payments for killings: “For one murder, you get Rs 10. For a half-murder, Rs 5. That’s how we got started."

But alongside this, Patha repeatedly emphasised that his men were given moral limits: “I had given strict orders not to misbehave with women, not kill any women… Do not loot."

News world ‘Rectified Historical Wrong’: Bengal CM Suvendu After Suhrawardy Avenue Renamed As Gopal Mukherjee Road

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