Paschimbanga only name which can be used: Dilip Ghosh

Kolkata: Hours after chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s attack on the Centre’s alleged lethargy to change West Bengal’s name, state BJP president Dilip Ghosh declared that the party would not allow West Bengal be named as ‘Bangla’ as it carries a referrence to the neighbouring country: Bangladesh.

In Birbhum, the Kharagpur MLA said, “The people of Bengal know what name the state should have. She has gone to change the name of the state with some morons and opportunists for her own interests. But we will not allow the name change of West Bengal.”

According to him, India’s national anthem “Jana Gana Mana” penned by great poet Rabin-dranath Tagore has a reference of Bengal as “Banga” and not “Bangla” which means Bangladesh.

Justifying his logic Mr. Ghosh later added, “There is also a reference of ‘Ban-gla’ in the national anth-em of Bangladesh: ‘Aamar Sonar Bangla’ also penned by Tagore. So the chief minister could have opted for the word: ‘Banga.’ But she did not do it. She cho-se ‘Bangla’ instead becau-se she perhaps wants our state to be West Bangla-desh which we would not allow to happen here. The only name which could be is Paschimbanga.”

The BJP, which has three MLAs in the Assem-bly has been opposing the name change of the state from ‘West Bengal’ to ‘Bangla’ by the Trinamul Congress government sin-ce the Ms Banerjee’s party moved the resolution in the House in 2016 after coming to power for the second time.