Will request Centre to reconsider name change plea: State

Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee government will request the ministry of home affairs (MHA) and ministry of external affairs (MEA) to reconsider the proposal for changing the name of the state from West Bengal to Bangla. The two ministries has objected to the proposal submitted by the state government for renaming the state, attributing diplomatic confusion over a similarity with neighbouring Bangladesh.

A senior official in the home department said that a letter for reconsidering the proposal for a name change will be soon forwarded to the MHA and MEA. The Centre wants the Bengal government to adopt a name that does not change when pronounced in English, Bengali and Hindi — like Uttar Pradesh or Gujarat — for administrative ease. However, officials in the state secretariat argued that separate names in English, Bengali or Hindi will not create any confusion.

A resolution to change the state’s name to Bengal (in English) and Bangla (in Bengali) was taken by the Assembly in August 2016. The resolution was then sent to Delhi for approval from Parliament. The state government had cited historical and cultural reasons behind the change of name and also to raise the stature in the alphabetical sequence of state names.

“The name of West Bengal always appeared at the bottom of the list whenever state representatives or even chief minister Mamata Banerjee herself was supposed to address any meeting between the Union government and the states,” the official said.

Efforts were on to change the name since 2011, when Ms Banerjee took the office of chief minister of the state but that proposal was turned down.