London: A west London council said it is to launch a statutory consultation over renaming a road in its heavily Punjabi suburb of Southall as Guru Nanak Road.
The proposal to rename Havelock Road after the founder of the Sikh faith came to the fore in the wake of London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s new Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm to review the UK capital’s landmarks in response to the Black Lives Matter protests, which have targeted memorials to historical figures with links to slavery and colonialism.
Havelock Road is named after Major General Sir Henry Havelock, the British general behind the quashing the Indian rebellion against the East India Company in 1857, referred to as the first war of Indian independence.
The local Ealing Council Leader, Councillor Julian Bell, welcomed the London Mayor’s review and said he has launched a parallel action within the borough of Ealing which covers Southall.
One suggested proposal is the renaming of Havelock Road in Southall, a section of which could be renamed Guru Nanak Road. There will be full and proper statutory consultation before any changes are made, Bell said in a statement on Wednesday.
Our diversity is our strength. We need to make sure that our public realm, our statues, road names and buildings reflect our diversity, and not a frozen past where colonialism, racism and the slave trade were present and celebrated, he said.
The local MP for the area, veteran Indian-origin Labour Party politician Virendra Sharma, welcomed the initiative and threw his weight behind Guru Nanak Road as the answer.
I have long campaigned for schools to teach more about our imperial past, not just the great strides made but also the shameful thuggery and violence, names like Havelock belong in books, classrooms and museums, not on the streets to be celebrated, said Sharma. (PTI)