TNN, New Delhi :
The West Bengal assembly has adopted the resolution to rechristen the state’s name. It would be known as ‘Bangla’ in Bengali, ‘Bengal’ in English and ‘Bangal’ in Hindi.
Now, the new names would require a Constitutional amendment to effect the change.
Recently, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had to speak at the very end of an event on centre-state relationship held in Delhi as the turn came in alphabetical order of the name of the state and West Bengal inevitably appears at the bottom of the list. This has been a constant complaint of West Bengal bureaucrats and ministers. “We are proud today. Those who objected the resolution will not be forgiven by history,” Mamata said shortly after the resolution was passed in the assembly. In the Bengali language, the state is currently referred to as ‘Pashchim Bengal’, which translates to ‘West Bengal.’ The renaming would change it to ‘Bangla’ in Bengali. This would then gel with the already in effect change in the spelling of the state capital Kolkata, which was once officially called ‘Calcutta.’ During Partition, the British province of Bengal was split into West Bengal and East Pakistan [formerly East Bengal] which became a part of Pakistan and later became Bangladesh in 1971. Some supporters of rechristening have proposed this argument as the name ‘West Bengal’ is redundant now because there is no ‘East Bengal’ anymore. They also say that this would help wipe off the colonial hangover. For example, Punjab – which the British had divided up as ‘West’and ‘East’ Punjab – was called just that by both India and Pakistan after Partition.
