Mamata Banerjee hits out at BJP for its renaming spree, says Bengal deprived

KOLKATA: Taking a dig at the renaming spree by several BJP led state governments, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that Bengal has been “deprived” as the proposal for changing the name of the state has been pending for several years now.
“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”, she wrote on Facebook .

Hitting out at the centre for not approving the name “Bangla” for West Bengal, she said , “Our Assembly had passed a unanimous resolution to change the name of our state on the basis of local sentiments related to our mother tongue, Bangla. It was resolved that the name of the state be changed from West Bengal to Bengal in English, Bangla in Bengali and Bangal in Hindi and sent to the Union Home Ministry.

However, the Union Home Ministry advised us to use the name Bangla in all three languages. Accordingly, our Assembly passed an 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.”

She further added, “After independence, there have been changes in the names of few states and cities, like Orissa to Odisha, Pondicherry to Puducherry, Madras to Chennai, Bombay to Mumbai, Bangalore to Bengaluru etc, keeping in view the sentiments of the state and local language. Those are genuine. But, in respect of Bengal, the attitude is totally different.”

The union home ministry reportedly did not approve the name “Bangla” for the state as the neighbouring country Bangladesh too uses the similar name “Bangla” in all official document.

Banerjee however argued, “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. Similarity of names should not create a hurdle. There is a Punjab in our neighbouring country as well as in India.

"Whether a political party with zero strength in the state will decide the name of our state Or the unanimous resolution passed by our State Assembly in accordance with the Constitutional obligations and federal structure should be respected?"

"The people of Bengal must get a positive response immediately."