Demand to rename 'Havlock road' intensifies

Kanpur, June 24 (UNI) As the Centre is celebrating 150th anniversary of the first war of independence, 1857, a demand for change in name of a cantonment road here, which is named after a British General of the era, has paced up.

Grandson of Tantya Tope Vinayak Rao Tope and a senior congress leader Badri Narayan Tiwari has demanded a change in the name of 'Havlock Road' at Kanpur cantonment to revolutionary 'Ajeejan Bai'.

They have noted that on the orders of General Havlock, many Indians were assaulted and killed during the 1857 war of independence and hence naming a road after him is derogatory.

The anniversary celebration is meaningless without considering such matters, they observed.

We have also written a letter to the Central Home Minister and local MLA Sri Prakash Jaiswal apprising them about the atrocities committed on the Indians by General Havlock, he added.

He remarted that Ajeejan Bai was a brave warrior of the era and had killed 210 British personnel in retaliation to the killing of Indians.

UNI