West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, severely criticized BJP-led Central government on a Facebook post, accusing it of obstructing the name change of West Bengal even as it has itself changed names of historical places “unilaterally” to “suit their own political vested interests.” The Trinamool Congress chief wrote, “The Centre is totally ignoring West Bengal even when our Assembly had passed a unanimous resolution to change the name of the state to Bangla.”
She further added, “ After independence, there have been changes in the names of few states and cities, like Orissa to Odisha, Pondicherry to Puducherry, Madras to Chennai, Bombay to Mumbai, Bangalore to Bengaluru etc, keeping in view the sentiments of the state and local language. Those are genuine.” However, she said that the Centre’s attitude was “totally different” in respect of Bengal.
“Our Assembly had passed a unanimous resolution to change the name of our state on the basis of local sentiments related to our mother tongue, Bangla. It was resolved that the name of the state be changed from West Bengal to Bengal in English, Bangla in Bengali and Bangal in Hindi and sent to the Union Home Ministry,” she wrote. She said that the proposal has been pending with the Union Ministry for a “long, long time.” She went on further to thrash BJP by saying that this clearly shows deprivation to the people of Bengal.”
In the fierce post, she mentioned, “Whether a political party with zero strength in the state will decide the name of our state Or the unanimous resolution passed by our State Assembly in accordance with the Constitutional obligations and federal structure should be respected?”
She concluded by saying that the people of Bengal deserved a positive response on this matter.
Read this news in Hindi here.