The West Bengal assembly has adopted the resolution to rechristen the state’s name. It would be known as ‘Bangla’ in Bengali, ‘Bengal’ in English and ‘Bangal’ in Hindi.
Now, the new names would require a Constitutional amendment to effect the change.
During Partition, the British province of Bengal was split into West Bengal and East Pakistan [formerly East Bengal] which became a part of Pakistan and later became Bangladesh in 1971. Some supporters of rechristening have proposed this argument as the name ‘West Bengal’ is redundant now because there is no ‘East Bengal’ anymore. They also say that this would help wipe off the colonial hangover.
