West Bengal assembly passes bill to change the state's name from West Bengal to 'Bangla'

Almost two years after the West Bengal assembly passed a resolution to change the name of the State, the state assembly today passed a bill to change the state's name from West Bengal to 'Bangla' in all three different languages.

Today's development comes after the centre's rejection of its earlier proposals of having three names in three different languages.

On August 29, 2016, the Assembly had passed a resolution changing the name of West Bengal to Bengal in English, Bangla in Bengali and Bangal in Hindi.


Today's development can be seen as a bid to raise its stature in the alphabetical sequence of state names.

Today's decision is the culmination of efforts since 2011, when Mamata Banerjee took the office of chief minister of the state and discovered an annoying truth.


Name of West Bengal always appeared at the bottom of the list whenever state representatives or event Mamata herself was supposed to address any meeting between the Union government and the states.