Left says right to renaming of Bengal

CALCUTTA, JUNE 22: The Left Front LF appears to have thrown its weight behind the move to change the names of both Calcutta and West Be...

CALCUTTA, JUNE 22: The Left Front LF appears to have thrown its weight behind the move to change the names of both Calcutta and West Bengal. The move, initiated by well-known Bengali writer Sunil Gangopadhyaya, seems to have hit the right cord with the LF partners, including the Opposition Congress.

Gangopadhyaya, who currently heads the Vhasa Chetana Prosar Samiti VCPS, had recently submitted a memorandum to the Left Front Government, urging it to change the name of Calcutta to 8220;Colcutta8221; and West Bengal to 8220;Paschim Bango8221; 8212; the way both are pronounced in Bengali.

Gangopadhyaya, whose name was dropped from the list of personages invited to travel in the first bus to Dhaka last week, told The Indian Express that 8220;Not only the change of names of the city and the state, we have also urged the Government to make Bengali compulsory in all schools, including English-medium public schools8221;.

The Left Front, which apparently gave serious thought to the demands, told reporters today, 8220;The LeftFront partners have strongly recommended to the state government to give the demands serious consideration.8221;

Biman Bose, a senior state CPIM leader and the party8217;s Politburo member, said: 8220;During the meeting today, all the LF partners agreed that the demands of the VCPS hold good in face of the recent change of names of other important cities in the country.8221; He added: 8220;The name of Madras has been changed to Chennai and Bombay to Mumbai, so we must try to restore the original names of our state and its capital.8221;

Incidentally, a few years ago, there had been a move to change the name of West Bengal, but due to lack of consensus and lack of continuity, the popular heat it had generated fumigated soon.

Interestingly, in an election year, with the LF throwing its weight behind the move, it is expected to gather momentum unlike other times, the observers feel. The move also coincides with the state administration stressing the need to use Bengali as the medium in the official day-to-day lettersexchanged by the bureaucrats and ministers.