Mamata wants to rename Bengal

The West Bengal government will change the name of the state and bifurcate districts of West Medinipore, North 24 Paraganas, Bardhaman and Jalpaiguri to provide good governance, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday after an all-party meeting on the issue.

“We have unanimously decided to change the name of the state. We will go slow and take suggestions from everyone,” Banerjee said, adding, “Partha Chatterjee, who is our deputy leader in the assembly and leader of opposition Suryakanta Mishra are asked to hold talks with intellectuals, linguists for the same.”

Another all-party meeting will take place to discuss the matter on August 19. Banerjee proposed changing the state name, so that the name does not hold the state back. Currently, whenever there is a meeting at the Centre, West Bengal gets the last opportunity to speak on a subject. This can be avoided, if the state's name begins with a letter earlier in the English alphabet.

At the time of independence in 1947, the erstwhile Bengal was bifurcated. The eastern part became East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and the western part remained with India becoming the state of West Bengal.The matter has been debated many times that "west" in the name does not make sense as "East Bengal" does not exist any more.

Speaking on the reorganistion of the districts, Banerjee said, “We are considering bifurcation of four districts -- West Medinipore, North 24 Paraganas, Bardhaman and Jalpaiguri for better governance.”

Apart from ruling Congress and Trinamool Congress; CPI-M and other Left Front constituents, Socialist Unity Centre of India (Suci), Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJMM) also attended the meeting.

“As Chief Minister said we have agreed on renaming the state and reorganising the districts. But we have asked the government to make sure that the new districts which will be carved out get necessary infrastructure,” Suryakanta Mishra, leader of the opposition, said.

However, while the the government is considering formation of a separate Alipurduar district bifurcatuing Jalpaiguri district, GJM has objection to that. It is of the view that Alipurduar district should not be created until the GTA’s territory is finalised as there are many Gorkha-dominated areas in Alipurduar subdivision.