The Union cabinet’s approval of Kerala’s proposal to rename the state as Keralam on Tuesday handed Mamata Banerjee a weapon to attack the BJP, asking why repeated pleas to rechristen West Bengal as Bangla had gone unheeded.

“I would like to congratulate the brothers and sisters of Kerala on the occasion of renaming the state as Keralam. But it surprised me that the BJP did not change West Bengal to Bangla, despite the Assembly having passed the resolution three times. I think they did not change the name of our state because they are anti-Bengal,” the Bengal chief minister said shortly after the Narendra Modi cabinet approved the renaming of Kerala as Keralam.

She once again explained why renaming West Bengal as Bangla was important for the youth and for her as the chief minister, since the state alphabetically comes last.

“The names of several states have been changed once the respective governments endorsed such proposals. However, this has not been the case in West Bengal. When our students go for exams or interviews, they are called at the end since the name of the state begins with ‘W’, which comes late alphabetically. I, too, face the same problem. I get the chance to speak at the end, as I am the chief minister of West Bengal,” she added.

In June 2024, the Pinarayi Vijayan government of Kerala had unanimously passed the resolution in the Assembly for the second time, urging the central government to change the state’s name to Keralam in all languages included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

Soon after coming to power in 2011, Mamata first proposed changing the name of West Bengal to Paschim Bango. However, it was rejected by the central government.

In 2016, the state government passed a resolution on the floor of the Assembly with multilingual names — Bangla (in Bengali), Bangal (in Hindi) and Bengal (in English). However, in 2017, the Narendra Modi government rejected the proposal, objecting to having three different names for one state.

In 2018, the Bengal Assembly once again passed a resolution proposing to rename the state as Bangla in all three languages. Trinamool Congress MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy also raised the demand in the Rajya Sabha in 2018. However, in 2019, the Union ministry of home affairs did not allow it.

“Based on the culture of the state, we wanted to rename West Bengal as Bangla. In this regard, we have passed resolutions twice in the Assembly. After we were told that the name of the state should be the same in Hindi, Bengali and English, we passed a resolution again to rename the state as Bangla in all three languages,” Mamata said.

After the caninet’s nod to Kerala’s name change, Mamata did not miss the opportunity to attack the BJP, alleging humiliation of Bengal’s luminaries and asking whether the BJP did not allow the state’s name change because they were anti-Bengal.

“Whenever I have met PM Modi and HM Amit Shah, I have raised this issue. However, much to my surprise, nothing has happened. I think they are not approving it because they are anti-Bengali. They disrespect the icons and polymaths of Bengal. They use the word ‘Bangla’ only during polls for votes. That is why they have not agreed to rename the state,” the chief minister said.

With elections round the corner in Bengal, where both the BJP and the CPM are rivals of Trinamool, Mamata did not miss the chance to put the two parties in the same bracket. “Kerala has been renamed since there is an alliance growing between the BJP and the CPM. The alliance is no longer unwritten after today. Why will Bengal always face deprivation?” Mamata asked before vowing to get the state’s name changed when the BJP was ousted from power.

The BJP, however, claims that by renaming the state, Trinamool and Mamata wanted to make people forget the history behind the formation of West Bengal.

“Everyone knows there is a history behind the formation of West Bengal. The TMC wants to make people forget that history. If they are so interested in changing the name, let them make it Paschim Banga in all languages; then the state will be ahead of Tamil Nadu (in the alphabetical order),” said Debjit Sarkar, the BJP state chief
spokesperson.

CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said Mamata should not see a BJP-CPM pact in the renaming of Kerala as Keralam. “She is trying to find a conspiracy as is her wont. Renaming Kerala was a long-standing demand, and our question is why the BJP approved it ahead of the elections. Mamata herself created confusion by proposing different names for the state at different times,” said Chakraborty.