MoS Home says govt received proposal for changing West Bengal's name to 'Bangla'

MoS Home Nityanand Rai on Wednesday said that the government has received a proposal regarding the change of name of West Bengal to "Bangla". He said that the process will require a constitutional amendment, after taking all relevant factors into consideration.

"During the period from January 1, 2017 to February 28, 2020, sixty seven proposals for change in the name of city/town/village were received. 'No objection' in respect to fifty-two proposals have been issued to the State Government/Union Territory concerned. Fourteen proposals for change of name of city/town/villages are currently under consideration and one proposal was not agreed to," Rai said in a reply in Rajya Sabha.

"The proposal for change in the name of only one state namely, West Bengal to "Bangla" was received. Change in the name of a state requires a constitutional amendment, after taking into consideration all relevant factors," read the reply.

Last year, the Centre had refused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's demand to rename West Bengal to Bangla saying that a constitutional amendment is needed to change the name of a state.

The West Bengal Assembly had earlier unanimously passed a resolution to change the state's name to Bangla in three languages -- Bengali, English and Hindi.