BJP leader Anirban Ganguly slammed the West Bengal name change proposal, stating TMC wants to erase history. The row resurfaced after CM Mamata Banerjee cited Kerala's name change, drawing support from Omar Abdullah who questioned the Centre's delay.
BJP leader Anirban Ganguly on Monday opposed the West Bengal name change issue, stating that there was no state named Bangla and that the Trinamool Congress wants to erase the history behind the naming of West Bengal.
Speaking to ANI on the West Bengal name change issue, Ganguly said the Britishers used to call the province 'Bongo' and earlier writers and historians of West Bengal used to call it Bangla Desh. "There was no state named Bangla, the Britishers used to call the province 'Bongo'. If you go through the writings of earlier writers and historians of West Bengal, they used to call it Bangla Desh. Now, there is a different country named Bangladesh so you can't rename it that way. Bangla is a language, so naming a state as per the language is not right," Ganguly said.
He emphasized that there is a rich history behind the naming of West Bengal and accused TMC of wanting to erase that history. "There is a history behind the naming of West Bengal. Now TMC wants to erase the history," he added.
Mamata Banerjee Renews Push for 'Bangla' Name
This comes after West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee reminded the Central government that the state of West Bengal also has its own proposal for changing its name to 'Bangla' while she congratulated Kerala for its new name 'Keralam'. According to an X post by TMC, the West Bengal CM said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) "Bangla birodhi" (Opponents of Bangla), claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah have no respect for the state's heritage and language.
Debate Draws Comparisons to Kerala, J&K
Earlier, while speaking to the media, Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah also cited the Union Cabinet's recent approval of the resolution to rename Kerala as 'Keralam', and questioned the difference with West Bengal. "If she (Mamata Banerjee) has demanded it, then the Central government should accept it. If the name of Kerala can be changed, then why not the name of West Bengal?" he said.
"If tomorrow, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly decides to put forward a proposal about renaming the state, then the centre should also focus on that," he added.
The issue has been contentious, with some people arguing that the name 'West Bengal' carries colonial baggage and does not reflect the state's cultural identity, while others raise concerns about potential confusion with Bangladesh and the historical significance of the current name.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)