Mamata asks centre to change West Bengal's name to 'Bangla'
Mamata Banerjee also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to recognise ‘Bangla’ as a classical language.
West Bengal's Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, has urged the central government of India to rename West Bengal to "Bangla."
Addressing a press conference at Nabanna on Thursday, Mamata cited Bombay's name change to Mumbai and Orissa's transition to Odisha as examples of aligning state and city names with the cultural identities and languages prevalent in the region.
She argued that, just as India and Pakistan have cities with the same name, Punjab, a country named Bangladesh and a state named Bangla could co-exist, reads a Business Standard report.
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Mamata Banerjee also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to recognise 'Bangla' as a classical language, reports The Indian Express.
She said, "Bangla is 2,500 years old and the seventh most spoken language in the world. Tamil, Telugu, Sanskrit, and many other languages have been classified as classical languages, so why not Bangla?"
The chief minister also informed PTI that they have already passed a Bill in the state Assembly, paving the way for changing the state's name to Bangla.
However, she added, the centre has yet to officially change the state's name to Bangla.
