Center refuses to rename West Bengal to 'Bangla

In a setback to Mamata Banerjee, the Centre refused her plea to rename West Bengal to ‘Bangla’, saying the move required constitutional amendment. MoS Nityanand Rai denied that Government has cleared the name 'Bangla' for West Bengal as proposed by the state government. Soon after this, Banerjee sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for expediting the matter. “I would again request you to kindly accept the wishes of the people of West Bengal, as enshrined in the resolution of the West Bengal legislative assembly and in the proposal of the West Bengal cabinet, to rename our state as 'Bangla' in English, Hindi and Bengali,” reads an excerpt from the letter.