Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced new names for three Andaman and Nicobar islands to honour Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Ross Island has been renamed as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep, Neil Island will be called Shaheed Dweep and Havelock Island is Swaraj Dweep, Modi said amid thunderous applause at Netaji Stadium here. All three islands are popular with tourists.

Krishna Bose, the former Trinamul Congress MP whose husband was a nephew of Subhas Chandra Bose and who had recently written to the Prime Minister’s Office asking for Port Blair to be renamed after Netaji, welcomed the decision but said her suggestion was better.

“I welcome whatever has been done. But my suggestion was much better and more striking. Port Blair is the main island. I would have been happier if he (Prime Minister) had accepted my suggestion and renamed Port Blair as Port Netaji Subhas. Netaji had named Andaman and Nicobar islands as Shaheed and Swaraj,” Bose told The Telegraph on Sunday evening.

Bose had said on Thursday that she had written to Modi on November 15, requesting him to rename Port Blair as Port Netaji Subhas. She has not received a reply from the PMO to her letter, she said on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister had donned the Azad Hind Fauj cap when he addressed the public meeting on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the hoisting of the Tricolour by Bose here.

“When it comes to heroes of the freedom struggle, we take the name of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose with pride. The first Prime Minister of the Azad Hind government Subhas Babu had made India’s independence resolution on the soil of Andaman,” he said.

“The country draws inspiration from Andaman. That is why the government has issued a notification and I am proudly announcing that henceforth, Ross Island will be known as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep. Neil Island will be known as Shahid Dweep and Havelock Island as Swaraj Dweep,” he said.

On this day in 1943, Bose had suggested that Andaman and Nicobar Islands be renamed as Shahid and Swaraj Dweep respectively. During World War II, the Japanese had captured Andaman and Nicobar, and Netaji came here as an ally of the Japanese forces.

“The historical event of 30th December 1943 has been completed today after 75 years,” Modi said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Port Blair on Sunday. PTI

Quick, can you read his mind?

You are right if your thoughts are as patriotic as that of the Prime Minister himself. In his Instagram account, Narendra Modi posted this picture from Port Blair on Sunday morning, along with the description: “A morning in scenic Port Blair... an early sunrise and traditional attire.”

Then came the clue about what was going through his mind: “Thinking about the brave heroes of our freedom struggle, who gave their lives for our freedom.”

At the Cellular Jail, Modi meditated in homage at the cell where Hindutva ideologue Veer Savarkar was lodged. In 1913, Savarkar had written in a petition: “… If the government in their manifold beneficence and mercy release me, I for one cannot but be the staunchest advocate of constitutional progress and loyalty to the English government which is the foremost condition of that progress.”