Renaming the State is just another controversy

The decision of the West Bengal Assembly to change the name from West Bengal to ‘Bangla' in Bengali and ‘Bengal' in English is again bringing a new wave of controversy and debate among all the opposition parties — the BJP, Congress and the left. To be precise, two names in two languages will definitely create a chain of confusion both for the locals as well as for the outsiders. Retaining one name for all practical purposes may sound better and will lessen the huge paper work across the State.

Further, this kind of name changes which will have to be followed up across the State, starting from the panchayat to the Assembly and in numerous court documents may obviously mount pressure on the State apparatus so as to make it work for daily business. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's attempt to rename the State has more to do with wooing her supporters than considering pragmatic issues like confusion among the outsiders on the current nomenclature of the State.

The history of name changing goes back to 1999 when the then left Front Government under Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee passed a resolution-changing the name of the State to Bangla. It had the support of all the political parties, but could not be pursued further. Then when Didi came to power for the first time in 2011, she had passed another resolutions in the State Assembly for changing the name of the State to Paschim Banga almost near similar to the Bengali translation of the present West Bengal.

Interestingly, the name changing narratives on both these occasions showed that whether it is ‘Paschim Banga' or ‘Bangla' as passed by Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the left Front respectively, it was meant for both Bengali and English. Thus it witnessed a unanimous support of all political players barring their bigger ideological faultlines for a single name in both the languages. May be this is sole reason why all the opposition parties are at loggerheads with the TMC Government of Didi as she is pitching for two names in two languages which are widely used in all official documents as of today.

As she has already conveyed about the State Assembly resolution to the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh for pursuing it further, it needs to be seen how the Centre responds to this sensitive issue. Hitting out at the opposition and terming its attitude as ‘historic blunder' for not supporting her in renaming the State, Didi is just forcing the rest of political brigade face the wrath of the public for sure. However the people's Chief Minister Didi is not scared about the opposition, particularly the left and the Congress, which formed an ‘unprincipled coalition' against her ‘grand coalition of the people' in the last Assembly election in the State, as the West Bengal Assembly has passed the historic resolution. let's see how Didi makes her way!