West Bengal to be renamed as Pashchim Banga

A committee comprising West Bengal’s Commerce Minister Partha Chatterjee and other opposition party leaders has unanimously proposed that the state of West Bengal or Paschim Bangal be renamed as “Paschim Banga”. The decision was taken at an all-party meeting held here on Friday. The initiative to rename the state has been taken keeping the need to gain administrative advantages. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee suggested the new name and unanimity was reached on it, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee told reporters after the meeting in the state assembly. "It has been unanimously decided that the state's new name will be Paschim Banga from now in all languages," he said. "We wanted a change in the name of the state to get the administrative advantage," he said.
The chief minister presided over the meeting attended by Trinamool Congress, besides ally Congress and Socialist Unity Centre of India, Left Front constituents Communist Party of India - Marxist, Communist Party of India, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Forward Bloc as also Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, among other parties. Banerjee had earlier empowered Chatterjee and Leader of the Opposition Surjyakanta Mishra to study the new name for the state. Chatterjee said the letter 'W' in West Bengal came almost at the end of the alphabet and this resulted in a disadvantage for the state. "Paschim Banga as a new name also mirrors history," he said, adding that a resolution would be moved in the assembly for the adoption of the name, which would be then referred to the Centre. Forward Bloc sources said the choice was made from among the suggestions of Paschimbanga, Bangla and Bangabhumi'. At the time of independence in 1947, the erstwhile Bengal was bifurcated. The eastern part became East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and the western part remained with India becoming the state of West Bengal. The matter has been debated many times that "west" in the name does not make sense as "East Bengal" is no more relevant.