Fort William in Kolkata, the headquarters of the Indian Army’s Eastern Command, has been renamed Vijay Durg. This change is part of the Modi government’s initiative to free the nation of British colonial imprints. Fort William, with a storied past, was named after King William III of England. It has now been renamed after the oldest fort on Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg coast, a crucial naval base during Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s reign.
“The order came in the second week of December, but it has yet to be formally announced. However, we have stopped using ‘Fort William’ in internal communications,” said Wing Commander Himanshu Tiwari, Chief Public Relations Officer, Ministry of Defence (Kolkata), told India Today TV.
Fort William was originally named after King William III of England, also known as William of Orange, as he was the reigning monarch in 1700 when the fort was named. He played a major role in Protestant Christianity gaining ground in Europe.
The original fort was built in 1696 by the British East India Company.
The fort, whose construction work was started by Job Charnock in Hastings, suffered significant damage during the siege of Calcutta in 1756.
A new fort was subsequently built, though it was relocated to the south of White Town, in Govindpore. This site was selected by Robert Clive for strategic reasons, Krishna Dutta writes in ‘Calcutta: A Cultural and Literary History’.
But who was William of Orange after whom Fort Willian was named?
KING WILLIAM III, THE MAN FORT WILLIAM IS NAMED AFTER
King William III of England (1650–1702), also known as William of Orange, was an influential figure in European and British history.
Born in The Hague (the Netherlands), he was the son of William II, Prince of Orange, and Mary, Princess Royal of England. He rose to prominence as a Protestant leader and played a key role in resisting Catholic power in Europe, particularly France under King Louis XIV, whose ambition for “universal kingship” he viewed with suspicion.
William became the ruler of England, Scotland, and Ireland in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution, a largely bloodless coup that deposed the Catholic King James II.
His reign, jointly held with his wife, Queen Mary II, marked the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in England, with the 1689 Bill of Rights laying the foundation for parliamentary democracy.
Known for his austere personality and strategic acumen, William III is remembered as a champion of Protestantism and a stabilising force in British politics.
The naming of Fort William in Calcutta was a tribute to his legacy as a symbol of British authority and expansion during the colonial era.
WHY FORT WILLIAM HAS BEEN RENAMED VIJAY DURG
The Modi government has been renaming places and streets to free India of its colonial yoke.
Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, was renamed Sri Vijaya Puram in September 2024.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said Port Blair was renamed to realise “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to free the nation from colonial imprints”.
The reason why Fort William has been renamed is because the king after whom it was named played a crucial role in European history, not India’s.
On the contrary, Sindhudurg has a Shivaji connection, a Maratha leader who is a symbol of Indian nationalism, patriotism and resistance.
However, the recent renaming of Fort William to Vijay Durg pays homage to the oldest fort on Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg coast, a crucial naval base during Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s reign. This is part of a larger effort to decolonise by renaming key landmarks, including the shift from Rajpath to Kartavya Path and Port Blair to Sri Vijaya Puram.