The state of West Bengal is all set for a name change after the state Cabinet gave a go-ahead to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s proposal of renaming it as ‘Bengal’, dropping off ‘West’ from its name, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee said.
"For the sake of the people of the state, its heritage and culture as well as to promote and protect its interests at the national level, we have proposed to rename West Bengal as Bengal in English and 'Bongo' or Bangla in Bengali," Chatterjee told the media.
A long-standing demand of the TMC government, Mamata Banerjee is believed to have pushed for the rechristening after she was reportedly made to wait 12 hours to speak with PM Narendra Modi at the inter-state meeting as it is conducted in alphabetical order of the states
In Bengali, the state is currently referred to as "Paschim Banga" or "Paschim Bangla".
Chatterjee said a special session of the assembly will be convened to discuss the renaming of the state.
"The assembly session begins on August 26. We will put forth the proposal of renaming the state for discussions.
"On August 29 and 30, we will discuss the issue and urge all to accept the new name," added Chatterjee.
The government in 2011 too had undertaken a similar exercise, adopting "Paschimbanga" as the name of the state.
