The West Bengal cabinet, led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, yesterday decided to drop off ‘West’ from the state’s name, after which West Bengal will be called Bengal in English and ‘Bongo’ or ‘Bangla’ in Bengali.
The Bengal province was partitioned by the British in two parts – Hindu-dominated West Bengal and Muslim-dominated East Bengal.
The ‘East Bengal’ doesn’t exist anymore as it was called East Pakistan after the Partition, and then Bangladesh, after it won independence in 1972.
The officials, on the other hand, reportedly said that Banerjee wanted to make sure that it did not come last alphabetically – because of which she was last on the list of speakers at the Inter-State Council Meeting.
Whatever the reason behind the move, Twiterrati couldn’t stop themselves from taking a dig at the name change to ‘Bongo’. Here are some of them that are quite witty.
Union Minister Babul Supriyo, being a singer, gave the obvious reaction.
Meanewhile, many were busy figuring out what the residents of Bengal be officially called now.
