New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to rename three islands in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago. Ross Island, Neil Island and Havelock Island- will be renamed as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Island, Shaheed Dweep and Swaraj Dweep, respectively.
This will take place during Modi’s visit to the islands on December 30, which is the 75th anniversary of Subhas Chandra Bose hoisting the tricolor at Port Blair, the capital of Andaman and Nicobar islands. On December 30, 1943, Bose hoisted the flag in Port Blair, as he saw Andaman as the first territory to have been freed from the British colonialism after the Japanese captured the territory during the Second World War.
Modi will be accompanied by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, and will also hoist a 150-meter high Indian flag
The government’s decision comes a month after West Bengal BJP vice-president Chandra Kumar Bose, who is related to Netaji, had written a letter to Modi asking that the islands be renamed to mark the 75th anniversary of India’s first-ever flag hoisting.
“India is celebrating the 75th year of flag hoisting by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on December 30, 2018. It is very heartening to note that you (Modi) would be hoisting the tricolour at Gymkhana Grounds, Port Blair, exactly from the same location where the first Prime Minister of United India had unfurled the flag,” The Print quoted Bose’s letter as saying.
A special Rs75 coin marking the 75th anniversary of the first-ever hoisting of the flag will also be issued on the occasion.
