Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced on Friday that Port Blair, the capital city of the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, has been renamed Sri Vijaya Puram. He said the decision was taken to free the nation from colonial imprints as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands had an “unparalleled place” in the country’s freedom struggle and history. Even as 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, the home minister said.
