West Bengal BJP president Shamik Bhattacharya said on Wednesday that the name of the state will be changed to West Bengal and a bill for this will be introduced in the first session of the assembly. When asked again about the name change, news agency ANI quoted him as saying, “Brother, how many times do I have to say it? The name will remain 'Paschim Bang'.” He had indicated earlier this week that the process of changing the name was going to be completed soon. He had said that names like “Paschim Banga”, “Bangla” and “Banga” would no longer be used.
What had Shamik said before this?
Bhattacharya had said on Monday, “Yes, of course. Paschim Bang Bhawan… 'West' of West Bengal… Now you will not hear names like 'Paschim Bang', 'Bangla' or 'Banga' for a long time. The name 'Paschim Banga' is coming.” Explaining the proposed legal step, the BJP state chief said that the purpose of this bill is to link the official name of the state with its historical identity.
#WATCH | Cooch Behar, West Bengal: On West Bengal Bill in Rajya Sabha, State BJP President Samik Bhattacharya says, “The name of the state will be changed to Paschim Banga.”
— ANI (@ANI) October 7, 2026
He said, “Very soon in the first session, our government is going to present a bill so that the name of this state remains deeply linked to the history of the state and remains its identity. That is why the state is being named 'West Bengal'.”
Political history of name change
The proposal to change the name of West Bengal has a long political history. The initiative began in 1999, when the Left Front government proposed renaming the state 'West Bengal'. Later, on the suggestion of the then Congress MLA Saugata Roy, this proposal was changed to 'Bangla', but the Center rejected it. After Trinamool Congress came to power in 2011, the state again proposed the name 'West Bengal', which was rejected by the UPA-2 government. In 2016, the state suggested three names – 'Bangla' in Bengali, 'Bengal' in English and 'Bengal' in Hindi and finally proposed the name 'Bangla' in all three languages. In July 2018, the West Bengal Assembly passed a resolution to change the name of the state to 'Bangla' and sent it to the Center for approval.
However, this proposal was not approved. The Center cited the need for constitutional amendment for this, while sources had earlier said that the similarity in the names of 'Bangla' and Bangladesh could create confusion at international forums. In 2019, the then Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai told the Rajya Sabha that the Center had not approved the name change.
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