Rename Mumbai High as Veer Savarkar Mumbai Offshore: BJP

Mumbai High, India's biggest oil and gas fields, should be renamed after freedom fighter Veer Savarkar, a leading energy expert and BJP spokesperson has demanded.

The Mumbai High fields, which were previously called Bombay High, should be named Veer Savarkar Mumbai Offshore, BJP spokesperson Narendra Taneja said.

The fields, operated by state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), produce 40 per cent of India's crude oil output and more than half of natural gas.

In a letter to Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, he sought a direction to be given to ONGC "to name their flagship Mumbai Offshore oil and gas fields, located in his (Savarkar's) home state Maharashtra, after the Amar Shaheed Veer Savarkar." "There will be no change of name involved as such. The fields can be just named the Veer Savarkar Mumbai Offshore, including the Mumbai High," he wrote.

Taneja said Mumbai Offshore is the single most valuable asset controlled by the Government of India. "The total value of Mumbai Offshore, based on the proven and estimated reserves of oil and gas, should be in the excess of USD 200 billion," he said.

"Naming India's most valuable asset after the great Veer Savarkar will be a lasting tribute to his immense contribution in the freedom struggle and nation building," he wrote.

He complimented Pradhan for building the Veer Savarkar Jyot at the Cellular Jail in Port Blair last month.

"However, I think we, as a nation, need to do more to remember the great sacrifices 'Swatantra Veer' Shri Vinayak Damodar Savarkar made in the service of his Motherland," he added.