BJP changes city names for political gains: Mamata

Accusing the BJP of changing the names of historical places for political gains West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday alleged that the Centre was dragging its feet over the state government ’s decision to change the name of West Bengal to Bangla. The West Bengal Assembly passed a resolution on July 26 according to which West Bengal will be known as Bangla in Hindi, English and Bengali. However, the Home Ministry is yet to approve the decision.

“Recently, I have been noticing that almost every day BJP has been changing the names of historical places and institutions unilaterally to suit their own political vested interests. But, in respect of Bengal, the attitude is totally different,” stated Banerjee in a Facebook post.

She also pointed out that earlier when the West Bengal Assembly passed a resolution to change the name of the state from West Bengal to Bengal in English, Bangla in Bengali and Bangal in Hindi. The Home Ministry advised the state government to use the name Bangla in all the three languages.

“However, the Union Home Ministry advised us to use the name Bangla in all three languages. Accordingly, our Assembly passed a unanimous resolution to change the name of the state to Bangla in all three languages and sent it to the Union Home Ministry again. But, it is pending there for a long, long time. It clearly shows deprivation to the people of Bengal,” stated Banerjee.

As for the similarity between the name Bangla and Bangladesh, the Chief Minister argued that it should not prove to be a hindrance in changing the name of the state.

“Undivided Bengal had Kolkata as its capital. The National Anthems of two countries – India and Bangladesh were penned by our son of the soil, Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore. We love India and we also love Bangladesh and Bangla. The similarity of names should not create a hurdle. There is a Punjab in our neighbouring country as well as in India,” said Banerjee.

She demanded a “positive response” from the Centre immediately.

“The people of Bengal must get a positive response immediately,” said Banerjee.