Signs of colonialism need to be eradicated: Fadnavis on Port Blair renaming

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government for renaming Port Blair as 'Sri Vijaya Puram' and said that the signs of colonialism need to be eradicated.

"The signs of colonialism need to be eradicated. I thank the Modi government for doing this," Fadnavis told reporters on Saturday.

Earlier on Friday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced the renaming through a post on X, calling it a move inspired by PM Modi's vision to free the nation from the colonial imprints.

Shah also highlighted the historic importance of the UT and said that it has an "unparalleled place" in freedom struggle and history.

"While the earlier name had a colonial legacy, Sri Vijaya Puram symbolises the victory achieved in our freedom struggle and the A & N Islands' unique role in the same," Shah wrote in his post.
 

"The island territory that once served as the naval base of the Chola Empire is today poised to be the critical base for our strategic and development aspirations. It is also the place that hosted the first unfurling of our Tiranga by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Ji and also the cellular jail in which Veer Savarkar Ji and other freedom fighters struggled for an independent nation," the Home Minister added.

The Maharashtra Deputy CM further said that soybean farmers will directly benefit from a hike in custom duty on crude and refined sunflower oil.

"The government has raised the import duty on raw oil to 20 per cent and on refined oil to 32.5 per cent. Our soybean farmers will directly benefit from this and they will get an increased price of their produce. The minimum export price on onions has been done away with and export duty has been reduced from 40 per cent to 20 per cent, which will benefit our onion farmers directly. Additionally, the export duty for basmati rice has been reduced to zero," he added.

Earlier, the government hiked customs duty on crude and refined sunflower oil to 20 per cent and 32.5 per cent, respectively.