West Bengal passes proposal to become Bengal

The Mamata Banerjee government on Tuesday passed a proposal to change the name of West Bengal to Bengal. The proposal was approved at a Cabinet meeting held at the State Secretariat.

“We have proposed that in Bengali the name of the State will be Bangla or Banga. In English, the name will be Bengal,” Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said.

The decision was taken to protect the “interest and tradition of the State”.

Speaking to journalists after the Cabinet meeting, Mr. Chatterjee said that a special session of the Assembly would be convened on August 26 to discuss “only this issue.” An all-party meeting would also be convened.

After coming to power in 2011, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had toyed with the idea of name change but the issue could be taken up then. After the name change proposal is passed by the Assembly, it has to be approved by Parliament.