The Centre is not keen on changing the name of West Bengal to ‘Bangla’ as it was “not in national interest,” a senior government official said on Thursday.
The official said the West Bengal government’s proposal to change the State’s name to ‘Bangla’ had been sent to Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for consultation, as the proposed name resembles that of Bangladesh.
The official said, “The name change could attract illegal immigrants and encourage them to cross the border due to the similarity in names. The government’s stand on illegal migrants from across the border is known to everyone.”
West Bengal shares 2,217 km border with Bangladesh.
The official added that no final decision has been taken and they would await a response from the MEA.
State Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on Wednesday accused the Centre of sitting on the proposal, adding that it demonstrated “deprivation of the people of Bengal” and that the people of the State “must get a positive response immediately.” The change of name of a State requires ratification by the Parliament.
BJP opposes move
The BJP unit in West Bengal has opposed the move and said it should be known as ‘Paschimbanga’ instead, as it has memories attached to the Partition and the national anthem also had ‘Banga’ in it.
On July 26, the West Bengal Assembly had passed a resolution to change the name of the State as ‘Bangla’ in three languages — Bengali, English and Hindi. This resolution was moved after the Home Ministry objected to the 2016 proposal by the State to change the name to ‘Bengal’ in English, ‘Bangla’ in Bengali and ‘Bangal’ in Hindi, saying names in different languages was not possible.
