The Mamata Banerjee government on Tuesday passed a proposal to change the name of West Bengal to Bengal. The proposal was approved at a Cabinet meeting held at the State Secretariat during the day.

“We have proposed that in Bengali the name of the State will be Bangla or Banga. In English, the name will be Bengal,” State’s Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said.

He said that the decision has been taken to protect the “interest and tradition of the State”.

Speaking to the journalists after the Cabinet meeting, Mr. Chatterjee said that a special session of the West Bengal Assembly will be convened on August 26 to discuss “only this issue.” The Minister said that an all party meeting would also be convened to discuss the issue.

After coming to power in 2011, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had toyed with the idea of name change but the issue could be taken up in 2011. After the name change proposal is passed by the State Assembly, it has to be approved by the Parliament.

(The Hindu)