A road named after Veerasamy Naidu in Singapore

Veerasamy Road - Little India/ Singapore

Veerasamy Road was renamed twice in its history; it was originally called Inche Lane, and was renamed Jalan Tambah in 1910. In 1927, the road was renamed again as Veerasamy Road, in honour of Dr N. Veerasamy Naidu (1865-1926), one of Singapore’s first Indian doctors and a leader in the local Indian community.

After his education at Raffles School, Dr Veerasamy became a medical practitioner for 40 years. He was later appointed as a Municipal Commissioner and Justice of Peace. Dr Veerasamy was buried at his family burial ground at Bedok after his death in 1926.

It was only in 1912 that the first Hindu public Holiday was granted to the Indian community by the government. This was for Deepavali,57 but it was notlegislated as an annual affair. The first LegislatedHindu Public Holiday came in 1914 when the Hindu community was given a say to choose between Deepavali or Thaipusam. In a meeting of the Hindu Association, presided by Dr Veerasamy.