On the occasion of the 129th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, celebrated nationwide as Parakram Diwas, former MP and Telangana Jagruthi President K Kavitha said that she has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the Andaman and Nicobar Islands be renamed as Azad Hind.
Telangana Jagruthi is a cultural and social organisation dedicated to preserving heritage, cultural renaissance and sustainable development in Telangana.
She said the initiative is aimed at honoring the historical legacy of the Provisional Government of Azad Hind, which in 1943 declared the islands the first liberated Indian territory from British colonial rule.
In her letter to the Prime Minister's Office, Kavitha argued that while individual islands have been renamed in recent years, Ross, Neil, and Havelock were rechristened in 2018, the collective archipelago still bears nomenclature imposed during the colonial era.
Her letter urged the Union Government to initiate constitutional and administrative processes to effect the name change. Supporters of the move argue that Azad Hind is not merely a symbolic title, but a testament to the first breath of sovereignty India took under Netaji's leadership.
Renaming the entire union territory, she emphasised, would align India's geography with Netaji's vision of a sovereign nation free from colonial vestiges.
Speaking to NDTV, Kavitha said, "Today is the 129th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. He was the one who went out of the country and, with his diplomacy skills, requested Japan for support. By force, he took away the entire Andaman and Nicobar from the British."
"He named it Azad Hind and there he flew our national flag much before 1947. It is a national memory. It should have been honored long back, but it has not been done. I am writing to the PM. The BJP has changed many names; I wouldn't agree with all of them, but Netaji is such a personality, he is such an energy. Andaman and Nicobar is a name given by the British and not us. So Azad Hind must be the name," Kavitha told NDTV.
She added that such a step would serve as a fitting tribute to the Azad Hind Fauj and act as an "eternal beacon" for the youth of India, reminding future generations of the sacrifices made in the struggle for independence.
