Bangla or Bongo? West Bengal govt working to change the name of the state

The West Bengal cabinet has reportedly decided to change the state’s name to either Bangla or Bongo. In English, it will only be Bengal.

The government made this decision to counter the problem of being placed last “alphabetically”, reported The Indian Express . The move comes after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s chance to speak at the Inter-State council meeting earlier this month. She was the last speaker and got only about 10 minutes to speak. [caption id=“attachment_2930088” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Mamata Banerjee. AFP[/caption] DNA quoted sources as saying that a special session of the Bengal Legislative Assembly will commence on 26 August for the clearance of the proposal ahead of it being sent for consideration to the Parliament. Banerjee wants the word ‘West’ dropped from the state’s name. She wants the state to be called either ‘Bangla’ or ‘Bongo’. According to reports, in 2011, a consensus to rename West Bengal as Paschimbanga was reached at an all-party meeting and a decision was taken in the assembly “to raise the state’s position alphabetically”. Officials explained the reason that at every state-level meeting, speakers from West Bengal are the last ones to speak. The name change will help MPs raise issues in the first half of the Parliament. The speakers at the end also get less time to present their views. “By the time our speakers actually get the opportunity to talk, every one is tired and the event gets wrapped up. quickly. This has been an issue faced by us for a long time,” said a state government official. State minister Partha Chatterjee said the word “Bengal” has the state’s culture and heritage associated with it and so it was decided to change it. If the Parliament clears the proposal of the name change, it would raise the state from 28th position to fourth alphabetically, DNA reported. With inputs from PTI.