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Will West Bengal be renamed Bangla?

By Marcus Dam

KOLKATA, JULY 27. Calcutta was re-christened Kolkata on January 1, 2001. The question now is whether — and if so, when — West Bengal will be re-named "Bangla.''

Seventeen months after an all-party resolution passed in the West Bengal Assembly on July 22, 1999 concurred on a change of name for both the State and its capital, a gazette notification was issued by the Union Home Ministry formalising the change of name of Calcutta to Kolkata. But seemingly lost in the excitement over the rechristening of the city was the call for a change in name for the State.

Four-year proposition

Speaking to The Hindu here, the Chief Whip of the Left Front in the State Assembly, Robin Deb, said the issue had been raised afresh in the House. The Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, has been requested to look into the fate of the four-year-old proposition for re-naming West Bengal.

Instances cited

The issue, Mr. Deb said, should be taken up again with the Centre. Rechristenings appear to take time to be accepted, particularly when they involve change in the nomenclature of timeworn institutions and public utility agencies. As has been the case with Kolkata. Some instances to be cited are : Calcutta University, the Calcutta State Transport Corporation and the Calcutta Tramways Company. Old habits die hard even when it comes to a section of the media.

Some city intellectuals have also been putting pressure on the West Bengal Government for renaming the State "Bangla.'' Among them is the well-known litterateur, Sunil Gangopadhaya.

"The matter will have to be passed in Parliament and it is the responsibility of MPs from our State to raise the issue, given that it had been endorsed by all political parties in the State four years ago,'' he said.

Mr. Gangopadhaya — who is also at the forefront of a campaign gaining ground in the city to put up signboards in Bengali alongside the ones that are in existence in English — explained that the exercise was aimed at "restoring the pride and honour of Bengali culture.''

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