Who Are Delhi's Roads Named After?

By the time you've made your way from Tughlaq Road to Bhagat Singh Marg, you've time-travelled about 700 years. And you didn't even notice.

Delhi isn't just a city of monuments, it's a city of memory. Its roads, in particular, are time capsules. They don't just take you places; they tell you who got to write the history books. Or rewrite them. 

From Mughal emperors and British viceroys to freedom fighters and near-forgotten local leaders, the capital's street signs double up as a living museum of India's political, cultural and ideological inheritance.

And while the buildings beside them have crumbled and risen again, the road names, with all their symbolic weight, have stayed. 

Sometimes unchanged, sometimes challenged, sometimes completely rewritten. In Delhi, the battle over who we are often begins with where we drive.

Names That Built Empires

Walk, or rather, drive through Lutyens' Delhi, and you'll still find yourself surrounded by the ghosts of the Mughal dynasty. 

Akbar Road. Shahjahan Road. Humayun Road. Even Babar Lane. Some of the oldest roads in Delhi carry the names of rulers from the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire, eras that deeply shaped the city's language, architecture and power structures.

Tughlaq Road: Named after Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, founder of the Tughlaq dynasty. Ironically, his capital, Tughlaqabad, lies in ruins, but the road named after him runs through the heart of Lutyens' Delhi.

Akbar Road: For the Mughal emperor, often called the architect of syncretic rule in India. Home to several Congress party offices, it has become a symbolic space for political power.

Aurangzeb Road (renamed Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Road in 2015): One of the most controversial names. Aurangzeb, a strict Mughal ruler, is seen by some as a despot and by others as a devout leader. The renaming was framed as honouring a "true nationalist."

Shahjahan Road: Named after the emperor who built the Red Fort and Jama Masjid, two of Delhi's most enduring icons.

But in recent years, these names have come under fire - literally, under white paint and political petitions. 

In 2022, Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta urged the NDMC to rename six such roads, calling them "symbols of slavery." He proposed new names: Akbar Road as Maharana Pratap Road, Tughlaq Road as Guru Gobind Singh Marg and Shahjahan Road after General Bipin Rawat.

This isn't new. In 2015, Aurangzeb Road became APJ Abdul Kalam Road following public pressure and political backing. Critics called it erasure of history, supporters said it was historical correction. Either way, the precedent had been set.

Viceroys, Princes And The British Blueprint

When the British rebuilt Delhi as the new imperial capital in 1911, they named roads not for local figures, but for governors, viceroys, and visiting royalty.

Curzon Road (now Kasturba Gandhi Marg): Originally named after Lord Curzon, infamous for dividing Bengal in 1905. Renamed post-independence to honour Gandhi's wife and fellow freedom fighter.

Connaught Place / Connaught Circus: Still bears the name of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught. Though officially renamed Rajiv Chowk and Indira Chowk, the British names continue in common usage.

Kingsway (now Kartavya Path): Once the route for British parades, later renamed Rajpath post-Independence, and more recently renamed Kartavya Path under the Modi government, in a bid to decolonise and "Indianise" public symbols.

Minto Road and Minto Bridge: Still named after Lord Minto, British Viceroy from 1905-1910. Unlike Curzon or Kingsway, these names haven't faced public or political pressure yet, possibly because they're lower-profile.

Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, didn't do much in Delhi, but he got a traffic circle and a central shopping district. Lord Curzon, infamous for partitioning Bengal, was once immortalised in the very heart of New Delhi. These names reinforced the empire's narrative: that Britain had brought order, governance and elegance to a "wild" land.

Post-1947, newly independent India began peeling off these layers. Kingsway became Rajpath. Curzon Road was rechristened for the Gandhian legacy. Race Course Road - the address of the Prime Minister - was transformed into Lok Kalyan Marg in 2016. But the residue of colonial presence still lingers.

Freedom Fighters, Founding Fathers And Forgotten Heroes

Post-independence, Delhi saw a wave of renamings - not just to erase colonial names, but to honour the leaders who shaped the idea of a free India.

Rajendra Prasad Road: Named after India's first President.

Vijay Chowk: Formerly the site of imperial parades, it now honours India's victory in the 1971 war.

Subhash Marg, Bhagat Singh Marg, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Marg, Lala Lajpat Rai Marg, Dadabhai Naoroji Road: Each one commemorates leaders who resisted both British rule and communal politics.

Kamraj Marg, Krishna Menon Marg, Purana Quila Road (near Indira Gandhi's residence): Markers of India's Nehruvian legacy, many of these roads are located near the power corridors of central Delhi.

Interestingly, Race Course Road, the Prime Minister's official residence address, was renamed Lok Kalyan Marg in 2016. A symbolic shift from colonial leisure to public welfare.

Municipal bodies in Delhi, especially the BJP-led North Delhi Municipal Corporation, have often renamed unnamed or obscure properties after local figures, from community leaders to councillors and even vague "religious personalities."

In one recent round, 34 new names were assigned: Baba Ramdev Park (not the yoga guru, but a Rajasthani saint), Master Attar Singh Park (proposed because "the Brahmin population exceeds 10,000"), and Ashwini Kumar Hall (identity unclear).

Even leaders from the ruling party admitted that councillors were proposing names after relatives or friends. And since the rules only prohibit renaming properties that already have names, these proposals walk a legal grey zone, while cluttering the symbolic map of Delhi with a mix of reverence and randomness.

Roads Of Memory

Thankfully, not all renaming debates are messy. Some road names honour genuine titans of Indian history. Netaji Subhash Marg. Bhagat Singh Marg. Kamraj Marg. Rajendra Prasad Road. These are legacy markers, not contested so much as celebrated.

Others, like Chittaranjan Park and Kamla Nehru Ridge, preserve the memory of leaders who didn't wield swords but still shaped the nation. Mr. C.R. Das, a lawyer and activist, and Kamla Nehru, a social reformer and political partner to Jawaharlal Nehru, may have been overshadowed by bigger figures, but their names remain rooted in the city's geography.

Where Faith Finds Its Address

Delhi has long been a melting pot, not just of power but of prayer. Some road names, thankfully, have little to do with politics and more with everyday geography or faith.

Street names like Nizamuddin, Jama Masjid Road, Gurudwara Rakab Ganj Road and St. James Church Road illustrate how faiths have lived side-by-side in the capital.

Yamuna Marg: Named after the river that has shaped Delhi for centuries.

Nizamuddin Road: Home to the dargah of Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya, this road blends religion and history.

Gurudwara Rakab Ganj Road, Hanuman Road, Church Road: Reflect religious diversity and how Delhi's roads mirror its faith communities.

Chandni Chowk: Designed by Jahanara Begum, daughter of Shah Jahan. Its name means "moonlit square," and it still bustles with traders, shoppers and history.

These spiritual street names aren't controversial. They're lived realities: shrines in stone and asphalt, as sacred as they are secular.

Roads That Remember (And Roads That Forget)

There are glaring omissions, too. Delhi still lacks roads named after many iconic women beyond the Nehru-Gandhi family. Rani Gaidinliu, Captain Lakshmi Sehgal and Hansa Mehta - a few feature on the map. Dalit leaders, too, are underrepresented beyond Ambedkar.

What's In A Name?

It's easy to scoff at road renaming as political posturing, and sometimes, it is. But in a city as old and contested as Delhi, names do matter. They tell us whose story gets told. They shape the way we remember and forget.

After all, roads outlast the regimes that name them. Politicians come and go. Monarchs fall. Councillors get voted out. But Shahjahan Road? It's still there. So is Bhagat Singh Marg. The signboards may fade, and the asphalt may crack. But the memory endures.

Which is why every name change becomes a fight not just for territory, but for truth.

Every Turn Tells A Story

The next time you take a cab in Delhi, look up from your phone. You might just find yourself driving over the past. Was this road named for a conqueror, a coloniser, a revolutionary or a forgotten saint?

Was it renamed in rage or reverence? Does it belong to the people who walk it every day, or to those who only seek to rename it from afar?

Delhi's roads don't just lead you somewhere. They ask where you're coming from. 

So, the next time you ask for directions, don't just look at the map. Look at the names. They'll tell you more than Google ever could.