Even as Orissa is abuzz with the Union Cabinet approval for the state to be known as ‘Odisha’, West Bengal has been waiting for the past one decade for government consent to be called ‘Bangla’.

An RTI reply by the Union Home Ministry shows the Government of India is yet to approve a name change for West Bengal to ‘Bangla’.

“The West Bengal Legislative Assembly had adopted a resolution on July 20, 1999, to change the name of the state from West Bengal to Bangla,” says Director and Central Public Information Officer with the Ministry of Home Affairs Dr Praveen Kumari Singh, in reply to a query from applicant S C Agarwal on the parliamentary process required for changing the names of Indian states.

“The Government of West Bengal also decided on August 3, 1999, that the state be re-named as Bangla. The state government vide letter dated 28.12.1999 requested the Government of India to take necessary steps under Article 3(e) of the Constitution for changing the name of the state to Bangla,” states the reply dated July 2009.

However, Singh does not write what further action the Centre took on the state government’s request.

In comparison, as Singh’s letter shows, prompt action was taken by the Centre on the name change of Uttaranchal to Uttarakhand through a law in Parliament in 2006. After Uttaranchal passed a resolution for the name change on October 5, 2005, the state government wrote to the Centre which accepted the proposal. Parliament enacted the Uttaranchal (Alteration of Name) Act, 2006, and the state officially adopted the new name on January 1, 2007.

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