Kolkata: Fort William

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Renaming the fort

As of 2024-25

Subhro Niyogi, February 6, 2025: The Times of India

The defence ministry’s decision to rename Kolkata’s historic Fort William as Vijaydurg, after a fort in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg, has sparked a debate among historians, military veterans and locals. While renaming colonial landmarks is not new, critics argue that the choice of a Maratha name for a British-built fort in Bengal lacks historical context

Last December, the defence ministry made a decision that went largely unnoticed. It decided to rename Kolkata’s iconic Fort William as Vijaydurg, after a 12th-century fort in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg that Shiva ji had restructured. But when news of the renaming filtered out, what stumped many was the decision to call it Vijaydurg. If a fort built by the British, and named after King William III, has to be renamed, why name it after a fort in Maharashtra? Especially when the Marathas were once notorious for their raids in Bengal, and Calcutta (as the city was then called) had needed a moat, the ‘Maratha ditch’, to keep them out?