West Bengal may soon be renamed Bangla

The West Bengal Assembly on Thursday passed a resolution to change the state’s name to ‘Bangla’ from West Bengal.

The resolution will now be sent to the Home Ministry for approval.

If the Home Ministry gives it a thumbs-up, the state’s name will then be officially changed to ‘Bangla’.

In August 2016, the Bengal government had passed a resolution to give three new names to the state: ‘Bengal’ in English, ‘Bangla’ in Bengali and ‘Bangal’ in Hindi.

The Home Ministry had rejected that plan, uncomfortable with the idea of a state having three different names.

The state cabinet then passed a fresh resolution to keep just one name for the state, Bangla, on September 8 last year. That resolution got passed in the Assembly today.

The interest to drop the ‘West’ from West Bengal’s name has been a common one for the state’s dwellers. The logic behind was simple: why should there be a ‘West’ Bengal when there’s no longer an ‘East Bengal’?

None of the options for a new name, however, have had a clear majority, be it Bangla, Bengal, or Bangal.

If the Centre does approve the fresh resolution, people will simply have to embrace the name ‘Bangla’.

Source: India Today