Centre received proposal to rename West Bengal as 'Bangla': MHA

NEW DELHI: The Centre has received a proposal from the West Bengal government for renaming the state as ‘Bangla’ in all Bengali, Hindi as well as English, the home ministry told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Stating that there were no guidelines in place for change of names of heritage places, MoS (home) Nityanand Rai said no-objection certificates (NOCs) had been issued for change in names of five cities and towns in as many states since 2017. These included Allahabad in UP for which the name ‘Prayagraj’ was approved in 2018.
The home ministry also cleared the renaming of Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh as ‘Rajamahendravaram’ in 2017; Nagar Untari town in Jharkhand as ‘Shri Banshidhar Nagar’ in 2018; ‘Birsinghpur Pali’ in Madhya Pradesh as ‘Maa Birasini Dham’ in 2018 and ‘Hoshangabad Nagar’ and ‘Babai’, also in MP, as ‘Narmadapuram’ and Makhan Nagar respectively in 2021. Similarly, an NOC was issued by MHA this year for the renaming of ‘Shri Hargobindpur City’ in Punjab as ‘Shri Hargobindpur Sahib’.