Kolkata: The West Bengal Assembly had passed a resolution for renaming the state, weeks after a proposal in this regard was put forward by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The proposal was approved by the special session of the West Bengal Assembly, which was convened on August 26 to discuss the renaming of the state.
West Bengal will now be called ‘Bangla’ in Bengali, ‘Bengal’ in English and ‘Bangal’ in Hindi. After a resolution was passed, Banerjee said “We have taken the decision. Bangla and Bengal. We had told the Centre to please accept the decision of the assembly. We would like it to be passed in Parliament next session. The Left also tried to get the name changed, they failed. They are now opposing the name change…Those who have opposed the move, history will not forgive them.”
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee had 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 ‘Bango’ or `Bangla` in Bengali.” Another reason for changing the name of the state is that whenever there is any meeting of all states, West Bengal comes at the bottom of the list alphabetically.