Thursday, December 22 2005 14:24 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: As states change the names of well-known cities and towns to give a local flavour, the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) wants that the Andaman and Nicobar islands to be renamed Shaheed and Swaraj Dweep in honour of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Party leaders will soon meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and Communist Party of India (CPI) members of the Left Coordination Committee to press their request.

"Netaji named these islands Shaheed and Swaraj Dweep when he established an Azad Hind government office there 63 years ago. Both Andaman and Nicobar should therefore be renamed to reflect the sentiments associated with the great leader," AIFB General Secretary Debabrata Biswas told a news conference here.

Biswas said his party would make name change requests in person with the Prime Minister before it launched a nationwide anti-imperialism movement on December 31 to mark the 63rd anniversary of the establishment of the Azad Hind's office on Andaman and Nicobar.

The AIFB's demand for place-name change follows the Karnataka Chief Minister N Dharam Singh's announcement that his state capital Bangalore would officially use the local Kannada name Bengaluru from next year.