Just in: West Bengal name change: State cabinet okays renaming to 'Bengal' in English and 'Bangla' or 'Banga' in Bengali. State CM Mamata Banerjee wants the word 'West' dropped from the state's name and had asked that the state be called either 'Bangla' or 'Banga', while Bengal could remain as the English name. A special session of the assembly will be called soon on this, says Partha Chatterjee, WB Minister.


The demand for changing the state's name due to alphabetical reasons is not new. 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'.


Apart from the Trinamool Congress government, the Opposition parties, led by the CPM, at the time had also supported the move. Prior to that, the previous Left Front government led by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, had also raised the issue.


The reason, officials explained, was that at every state-level conclave, speakers from West Bengal were inevitably the last. "The speakers at the end tend to 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.