The Union Home Minister has announced that Port Blair, the capital city of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, will now be known as ‘Sri Vijaya Puram’.
Key points
- Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the earlier name had a colonial legacy, and Sri Vijaya Puram symbolised the victory achieved in India’s freedom struggle and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ unique role in it.
- The Union Home Minister said that the island territory that once served as the naval base of the Chola Empire is now poised to be the critical base for India’s strategic and development aspirations.
- It is also the place that hosted the first unfurling of our Tiranga by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and also the cellular jail in which Veer Savarkar Ji and other freedom fighters struggled for an independent nation.
- Earlier, the prime minister had unveiled the model of the National Memorial dedicated to Netaji to be built on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep, earlier known as Ross Islands.
- The city of Port Blair is the entry point of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It was named after Archibald Blair, a naval surveyor and lieutenant in the Bombay Marine. Blair was the first officer to carry out a thorough survey of the Andaman Islands.
- With the strengthening of the Indian Independence Movement in the late 19th century, a huge cellular jail was established here by 1906. Popularly known as Kaala Paani, it housed several freedom fighters, including Veer Damodar Savarkar.
- Some historical records suggest that the Andaman Islands were used as a strategic naval base by the 11th century Chola emperor, Rajendra I to carry out an attack on Srivijaya, which is in present day Indonesia.
- As per an inscription found at Thanjavur dated to 1050 CE, the Cholas referred to the island as Ma-Nakkavaram land (great open/ naked land), which possibly led to the modern name of Nicobar under the British.
