Banga,Bangla or Gaur Banga: State mulls

Banga,Bangla,Bangabhumi,Bangapradesh,Gaur Banga,Paundrabardhan,Paschimbanga these are the various names that have been suggested as alternatives to West Bengal at a meeting between Minister for Commerce and Industries Partha Chatterjee and leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Surya Kanta Mishra.

After coming to power,one of the first decisions that Mamata Banerjees Cabinet took was regarding a change of name for the state. The reason given was that the states name always came last be it seminars or surveys. The Chief Minister had asked Chatterjee and Mishra to find new names. Chatterjee said the alternative names will be placed at the all-party meeting on August 19,to be presided over by the CM.

Chatterjee claimed that well-known authors Sunil Gangopadhyay,Mahasweta Devi,Sankha Ghosh and singer Sandhya Mukhopadhyay have been consulted regarding the alternatives.

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Gangopadhyay,who heads the Sahitya Akademi,said,I always rooted for Bangla. Its simple and nice.

In 1999,the name adopted by the Assembly was Bangla. But this time we have not yet decided. The Left Front will meet on August 18 to finalise its choice, said Mishra.

Several media houses have also started their own campaigns regarding the states name.