Centre’s indecision on “Bangla” annoys Mamata

At a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Uttar Pradesh is on a name-changing spree, the Narendra Modi government at the Centre has been perceived as dragging its feet for the past two years over West Bengal’s proposal for a name change. Registering her protest against the Centre’s attitude, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on social media:

Mamata Banerjee.

“Recently, I have been noticing that almost every day BJP has been changing the names of historical places and institutions unilaterally to suit their own political vested interests.

“After independence, there have been changes in the names of few states and cities, like Orissa to Odisha, Pondicherry to Puducherry, Madras to Chennai, Bombay to Mumbai, Bangalore to Bengaluru etc, keeping in view the sentiments of the state and local language. Those are genuine. “But, in respect of Bengal, the attitude is totally different...  it is pending there for a long, long time.

“It clearly shows deprivation to the people of Bengal.”

In 2016, the Trinamool Congress government had proposed a change in the name of the State to Bengal (in English) and Bangla (in Bengali). Subsequently, at the Centre’s advice to choose a single name, the State government settled for Bangla. A resolution for the name-change was duly passed in the State Legislative Assembly in July this year and since then the matter has been pending with the Centre.

According to reports, the Centre’s reluctance to give assent to the new name is because of its similarity to neighbouring Bangladesh.  Apparently addressing this issue, Mamata said on the social media site, “Undivided Bengal had Kolkata as its capital. The National Anthems of two countries—India and Bangladesh—were penned by our son of the soil, Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore. We love India and we also love Bangladesh and Bangla.

“Similarity of names should not create a hurdle. There is a Punjab in our neighbouring country as well as in India.”

Changing the name of West Bengal has been a longstanding demand in the State. Incidentally, in 1999, too, when the then Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front government had suggested the new name Bangla, the Centre had pointed out the problem of confusion with Bangladesh. In 2011, after the Trinamool Congress assumed power in the State, the name “Pashchimbanga” was suggested. Once again, in 2016, after the Trinamool returned to power for its second consecutive term, the demand for a change of name was raised, and this time it was Bangla, a name the Centre had reservations with earlier.