The Central government on Friday announced that it has decided to rename Port Blair, the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, as Sri Vijaya Puram.
In a post on X, Union Minister Amit Shah said the decision was taken to shed “colonial imprints”. “Inspired by the vision of PM Narendra Modi, to free the nation from the colonial imprints, today we have decided to rename Port Blair as Sri Vijaya Puram,” he said.
The home minister said while the earlier name had a colonial legacy, Sri Vijaya Puram symbolises the victory achieved in India’s freedom struggle and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ unique role in it.
Stating that the islands have an unparalleled place in India’s freedom struggle and history, Shah said “the territory that once served as the naval base of the Chola Empire, is today poised to be the critical base for our strategic and development aspirations.”
“It is also the place that hosted the first unfurling of our Tiranga by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Ji and also the cellular jail in which Veer Savarkar Ji and other freedom fighters struggled for an independent nation,” he said.