Bengal BJP chief says bill to rename state to Paschim Banga coming soon

West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said on Monday that the state government would soon introduce a bill in the assembly to rename West Bengal as Paschim Banga. He made the announcement at a press conference while responding to a question on a proposal to build a Paschim Banga Bhavan in Varanasi.

Bhattacharya said the move to use the name Paschim Banga was meant "to connect it with its history". "You will not have to utter names like Bangla or West Bengal anymore because the state government will very soon introduce a bill, possibly in the very session of the assembly, to rename our state Paschim Banga, keeping in line with its history," he said.

He said the state culture and tourism department, along with the Centre and descendants of the royal family of Cooch Behar, had planned the construction of Paschim Banga Bhavan in Varanasi. According to him, the facility will serve as a cultural centre for the state and also provide accommodation for tourists and pilgrims from Bengal.

"Varanasi shares a long-standing bond with Bengal, a spiritual connection. The first college for women was built there by a Bengali and the city has multiple schools for Bengali students. It has a strong presence of the Bengali population. The royal family of Cooch Behar had laid the foundation stone for the Benaras Kali Bari in 1836 and built twin temples there a decade later," Bhattacharya said.

Bhattacharya said former politician and Maharani of Jaipur Gayatri Devi, who was a princess of the Cooch Behar royal family, had been part of an effort by the erstwhile Left Front government to restore the structure and had personally committed Rs 5 crore for it. He said the plan did not move forward because of red tape. He added that another attempt by the TMC government in 2022 also did not take off.

"We have now decided to build a cultural centre comprising a conference hall, library and collection of Bengali literature and songs, alongside parking facilities. The facility will double up as a place for stay for pilgrims from Bengal and will also offer a space for social gatherings for local Bengalis who have lived there for four to five generations," Bhattacharya said.

Efforts to rename West Bengal go back to 1999, when the Jyoti Basu-led Left Front government moved a resolution proposing Paschim Banga as the new name. This was followed by a debate on whether the state should instead be called Bangla, a proposal that was later sent to the Centre. The main argument was that the state should drop its colonial-era name and adopt one that reflected its Bengali identity, but the move did not secure political consensus or the Centre's approval.

The issue returned after the TMC came to power in 2011. The Mamata Banerjee government first proposed Paschim Banga, saying the state's place near the bottom of the alphabetical list of states meant its representatives often had to wait to speak at national meetings, causing an alleged administrative disadvantage. An all-party meeting backed the proposal in 2011, but the Centre did not approve it.

In 2016, the government revived the exercise with three names - Bangla in Bengali, Bengal in English and Bangal in Hindi. In 2018, the assembly unanimously passed a resolution proposing Bangla as the single name. The Centre again did not approve it, citing the need for a constitutional amendment and concerns raised by a section of BJP leaders in the state over the similarity between Bangla and Bangladesh.- Ends