Mamata denied: No clearance for Mamata Banerjee govt's proposal to rename West Bengal as 'Bangla', Centre clarifies that it requires constitutional amendment

Days after Trinamool MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray wrote to the upper house of the Parliament that West Bengal Legislative Assembly had passed a resolution in July 2018, that the state should be formally renamed from 'West Bengal' to 'Bangla', CPI(M) MP Ritabrata Banerjee asked questions related to it as unstarred question as the session of the Rajya Sabha is on.

On July 3, under the title of "Renaming of West Bengal' , the CPI(M) Mp asked three questions pertaining to the renaming of the state of West Bengal to Bangla. He asked if the Union government has cleared the name Bangla fro the state of West Bengal as proposed by West Bengal government.

He then asked that if the Centre has given the consent then details must be provided of the same. He also asked if the Centre has not given any such consent then what is the reason for the Centre to deny it. 

Responding to the query, on behalf of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Minister of state Nityanand Rai said that there is no such thing. 

He clarified that change in the name of the state requires Constitutional amendments. He added that the process of constitutional amendment takes in consideration other relevant factors. 

READ: 'West Bengal Assembly Passed Resolution To Rename State To 'Bangla' Writes TMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray To Rajya Sabha, Asks Centre To Allow The Renaming

In July 2018, the West Bengal Assembly passed a resolution recommending the name change. Earlier, MC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray wrote a letter  to Rajya Sabha Secretary General Desh Deepak Verma urging the Centre to give its consent.

In his letter, he had claimed that the Central government should put into effect the passage of the resolution by the state assembly to 'restore the actual identity of the Bengali people'.