West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said that the Union government has not considered repeated requests made by her government to change the name of the state to “Bangla”, The Hindu reported.
The comment came hours after the Union Cabinet approved the renaming of Kerala as “Keralam”. It said it had done so in response to a request made by the Kerala Assembly through a resolution in June 2024.
The Trinamool Congress chief claimed that an “understanding” between the Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre and Kerala’s ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) had helped the state get a new name, PTI reported.
In a video message, Banerjee asked why West Bengal had to “sit in Y-Z for so long?”, The Hindu reported. She was referring to West Bengal beginning with W, which places the name toward the end of the alphabetical order.
The Trinamool Congress government in the state has long pushed for the change, arguing that West Bengal is at a disadvantage in meetings where states speak in alphabetical order. Officials have complained that they get little time to present their views.
“When the boys and girls of our state go for exams, they have to sit on the back bench,” The Hindu quoted Banerjee as saying on Tuesday. “Whenever I go somewhere as the chief minister, I am given the last chance to be given this name in alphabetical order.”
The chief minister said that the West Bengal government had passed resolutions in the Legislative Assembly two to three times seeking to rename the state, PTI reported.
In 2011, the Trinamool Congress government proposed renaming the state “Paschim Banga”, but the Union government rejected it. The CPI(M)-led Opposition at the time had supported the move.
In August 2016, the Assembly passed a resolution to rename the state as “Bangla” in Bengali, “Bengal” in English, and “Bangal” in Hindi, but the Union government did not clear it. In July 2018, another resolution was passed in the Assembly to change the name to “Bangla” in all three languages.
A state can be renamed only through a bill introduced in Parliament with the president’s recommendation and passed by both Houses.
On Tuesday, Banerjee said that she wanted to “name the state ‘Bangla’ considering Bengal’s culture, civilization, mind power, thought, philosophy”, The Hindu reported. The reason why the Union government does not rename West Bengal is because they are “anti-Bangla”, she alleged.
“They disrespect Bengali scholars,” the newspaper quoted her as saying. “They use the word Bengali to get votes during elections. But they are anti-Bangla…”
Congratulating the residents of Kerala on the name change, Banerjee noted that the names of several states had been changed once such proposals were endorsed by their state governments, PTI reported.
“They [Kerala government] got it [name change] because today an alliance between the BJP and the CPI(M) is being formed in Kerala,” The Hindu quoted the chief minister as having alleged. “Today’s incident is proof of that.”
In February 2025, Trinamool Congress MP Ritabrata Banerjee had urged the Rajya Sabha to rename West Bengal as “Bangla”, arguing that the name better reflects the state’s history and culture.
Also read: Mamata Banerjee's plan to drop 'West' from the state's name is a blow to Bengali identity
Just 0.2% of readers pay for news. The others don’t care if it dies. You can help make a difference. Support independent journalism – join Scroll now.
We’re not driven by clicks or corporate interests – just honest, independent reporting. Keep us going. Support Scroll today!