A new name for West Bengal ?

A day after chief minister Mamata Banerjee took the initiative to change the name of West Bengal, CPM on Thursday announced that it would support the government’s move in this regard. Leader of opposition Surya Kanta Misra said: “The previous Left Front government, too, had initiated a similar move, but we could not complete the process. Some alternative names had also been suggested, but none was finalized. It will be good if the name can now be changed.” The debate intensifies over what the new name of the state should be. While painter Jogen Chowdhury thinks that the new name should be “Bengal”, artist Shuvaprasanna feels that the name should be “Banga Pradesh”. People think this is a long-awaited change because the word “West” has become irrelevant because East Bengal no longer exists and has been replaced by Bangladesh. “People of West Bengal were never happy with the name and there was an underlying demand for a more relevant name. I think Banga is a smart and precise name,” says writer Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay. Some writers feel a committee with linguists, historians and others from the world of culture could be formed for this name hunting exercise. While history and demography are the most common reference points for such a baptism, the alphabetical order, too, must be kept in mind. For the new Bengal can’t afford to languish at the bottom of the list of state names like its present avatar, whose W (for West) has planted it permanently at the bottom despite a highly worthy B (for Bengal). Emerging from a cabinet meeting, that got the process to rechristen Bengal under way, minister for parliamentary affairs Partha Chatterjee said a change of name was essential as the state’s name led to it figuring last among the states in the alphabetical order. “Whenever there is a meeting at the Centre, we get the last opportunity to speak on a subject. By then, people are bored and the atmosphere is not conducive to make a point. Altering the name so that it begins with an alphabet earlier in the series will allow the state to move up the order,” he said. Mamata took the initiative on Wednesday and raised the issue at the cabinet meeting. She asked chief secretary Samar Ghosh to involve various sections of society, including political parties and the intelligentsia, in the process of finding a new name.