New Delhi, Nov 14 (NIE): Hitting out at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government, Trinamool Congress (TMC) Chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday said the BJP has been changing names of historical places unilaterally but it is “totally ignoring West Bengal even when our Assembly had passed a unanimous resolution to change the name of the state to Bangla”.
In a Facebook post, Banerjee said, “Recently, I have been noticing that almost every day BJP has been changing the names of historical places and institutions unilaterally to suit their own political vested interests.” The party has recently changed names of Allahabad and Faizabad to Prayagraj and Ayodhya, respectively.
Banerjee further said, “After independence, there have been changes in the names of few states and cities, like Orissa to Odisha, Pondicherry to Puducherry, Madras to Chennai, Bombay to Mumbai, Bangalore to Bengaluru etc, keeping in view the sentiments of the state and local language. Those are genuine. But, in respect of Bengal, the attitude is totally different.”
Asserting that the West Bengal assembly had passed a resolution to change the name of the state, the chief minister said, “Our Assembly had passed a unanimous resolution to change the name of our state on the basis of local sentiments related to our mother tongue, Bangla. It was resolved that the name of the state be changed from West Bengal to Bengal in English, Bangla in Bengali and Bangal in Hindi and sent to the Union Home Ministry.”
“However, the Union Home Ministry advised us to use the name Bangla in all three languages. Accordingly, our Assembly passed a unanimous resolution to change the name of the state to Bangla in all three languages and sent it to the Union Home Ministry again. But, it is pending there for a long, long time. It clearly shows deprivation to the people of Bengal,” she added.
Banerjee also said that the undivided Bengal had Kolkata as its capital. The National Anthems of two countries – India and Bangladesh were penned by our son of the soil, Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore. We love India and we also love Bangladesh and Bangla, adding: The similarity of names should not create a hurdle. There is a Punjab in our neighbouring country as well as in India.”
Asking for a positive response in the matter immediately, the TMC Chief said: “Whether a political party with zero strength in the state will decide the name of our state or the unanimous resolution passed by our State Assembly in accordance with the Constitutional obligations and federal structure should be respected?”