Demand to rename West Bengal raised again in Parliament; Issue has been brought up several times before; Know the details

The issue of changing the name of West Bengal has once again echoed in Parliament. Here the TMC has demanded to change the name of West Bengal to 'Bangla'. The TMC MP said that this name reflects the history and culture of the state. Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, MP Ritabrata Banerjee said that the West Bengal Legislative Assembly had unanimously passed a resolution to change the name of the state in July 2018. The Center has not yet approved it.

He said that CM Mamata Banerjee also wrote a letter to PM Modi and said that the naming matches the history, culture and identity of the state and also reflects the aspirations of the people here.

How did the state get this name?

The state got this name in 1947 after the independence of the country. At that time Bengal was divided into two parts and the eastern region was given to Pakistan (presently Bangladesh) and the western region to India. That is why the state has been named West Bengal. This name has nothing to do with the history and culture of Bengal before 1947.

Names of many cities changed

MP Ritabrata Banerjee said, "There is a need to change the name of our state. The mandate of the people of West Bengal needs to be respected. The last time a state was renamed was in 2011 when Orissa was renamed Odisha." He said that the names of many cities have been changed in the last few years. These include Bombay, which was changed to Mumbai in 1995, Madras to Chennai in 1996, Calcutta to Kolkata in 2001 and Bangalore to Bengaluru in 2014.

Former CM Jyoti Basu had also raised this issue first

In 1999, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal Jyoti Basu, fed up with his turn coming last in government programs, took the initiative to change the name of the state for the first time. However, since the then United Front government had the support of the CPI(M), the speaking order for chief ministers was reversed in the governments of H.D. Deve Gowda and Inder Kumar Gujral. States starting with the last letter of the English alphabet were given a chance to speak first. In this way, West Bengal started getting the first chance to speak in such programs. Jyoti Basu's proposal was shelved.

Mamata Banerjee’s TMC raised it several time

After becoming the Chief Minister of West Bengal for the first time, Mamata Banerjee sent a proposal to the Center to change the name of the state in the year 2011. However, due to technical reasons, the then-UPA government rejected this proposal. It is said that then the state assembly had demanded three different names for West Bengal, under which it was decided to keep Bengal in Hindi, Bengal in English and Bangla in Bengali language.

After about 7 years, the Mamata government again passed a resolution in the state assembly and demanded to give only one name 'Bangla' to the state. This proposal was given to the Union Home Ministry. But no decision has been taken on this by the central government yet. At the same time, after this, in the proposal to change the name of the state in the year 2018, it was also mentioned that West Bengal is located in the eastern part of the country and not in the western part.

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