West Bengal is all set to be renamed as “Paschimbanga” in English, the way the state is called in Bengali, parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee said after an all-party meeting on Friday.
“It has been unanimously decided by all the parties under the leadership of our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that from now onwards West Bengal will be called Paschimbanga. In English also, the name of our state will be written as Paschimbanga,” Chatterjee said while addressing a media conference here. Paschimbanga is the literal translation of the English name West Bengal.
According to Chatterjee, people from all sections of the society were consulted on the matter. “Apart from consulting with people across the society, while considering the name, we considered all the aspects including administrative, historical and social,” he said.
The state government is likely to ask the Government of India to take necessary steps under Article 3(e) of the constitution for changing the name of the state. After officially seeking its view in the state assembly, the President will have to recommend the bill to parliament which will finally pass the it.
Apart from Trinamool Congress and its ally Congress, SUCI(C), the all-party meeting chaired by the chief minister Mamata Banerjee, was attended by Left Front constituents CPI-M, CPI, RSP, Forward Bloc and also GJM, among other parties.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier called an all-party meeting on August 3 on the issue and empowered parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee and opposition leader Surjya Kanta Mishra to suggest names. Bangla, Paschim Banga, Banga Pradesh and Bangabhumi -- were some of the names which were suggested.
Partha Chatterjee had earlier said because of the the name 'West Bengal', it used to get the last opportunity to speak on a subject and this can be avoided, if the state's name begins with a letter earlier in the English alphabet. However, the new name will only keep the state ahead of six states – Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Reacting to the decision, Sunil Gangopadhay said, “It is good that the word “west” will not be there any more. But it would have been better to name the state 'Bangla' as 'paschim' (west) does not make any sense.”
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.
