All parties in West Bengal have approved a name-change on Thursday, bringing the state a step closer to becoming “Bangla.” The name change will now require the centre’s clearance, reports- NDTV.
According to a leader of the state’s ruling party Trinamool Congress, the name “Bangla” will be officially used in all languages.
In 2016, a similar initiative was taken by the Mamata Banerjee government, as it suggested a new name for the state with three versions—“Bangla” in Bengali, “Bangaal” in Hindi and “Bengal” in English. However, the centre recommended one uniform name be used.
With this move, the ruling party finally agreed with its rival, Left, which first suggested this in 1999.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has recently been proposing to change the name of her state.
During her speech in the state assembly on Thursday, Mamata said that the name “Bangla” was chosen as "it is the identity of Bengal."
The state of West Bengal is also called "Paschim Banga" or "Paschim Bangla" in Bengali.
The previous left government led by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had tried to rename the state to "Paschimbanga", in 2011, but it was never cleared.
Independence and partition in 1947 led to the division of the province of Bengal into West Bengal, which stayed in India, and East Bengal, which is now part of Bangladesh.
