'If Kerala Can Be Changed, Why Not West Bengal': Omar Abdullah Backs Mamata Banerjee's Demand for 'Bangla'

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday supported West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's recent statement about renaming West Bengal as 'Bangla', stating that if the state assembly makes such a proposal, the Centre should consider it.

Speaking to the media, Abdullah cited the Union Cabinet's recent approval of the resolution to rename Kerala as 'Keralam', questioning the difference with West Bengal.

"If she (Mamata Banerjee) has demanded it, then the Central government should accept it. If the name of Kerala can be changed, then why not the name of West Bengal?" he said. "If tomorrow, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly decides to put forward a proposal about renaming the state, then the centre should also focus on that," he added.

This comes after Banerjee on Tuesday reminded the Central government that the state of West Bengal also has its own proposal for changing its name to 'Bangla' while she congratulated Kerala for its new name 'Keralam'.

According to an X post by TMC, the West Bengal CM said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) "Bangla birodhi" (Opponents of Bangla), claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah have no respect for the state's heritage and language.

TMC wrote, "Mamata Banerjee warmly congratulated the people of Kerala on the Union Cabinet's approval to rename their state 'Keralam'. At the same time, she reminded the Centre that a similar proposal to rename West Bengal as 'Bangla' has been lying buried for years. Mamata Banerjee said that West Bengal's "legitimate demand" should not be denied just because the state "refused to bow before the BJP".

"Every election season, PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah descend on Bengal, shedding crocodile tears and pretending to love our soil, our culture, our people. Spare us the drama.

These Bangla-Birodhis have no respect for our heritage, no regard for our language, no honour for our icons, and zero concern for our dignity. We rejoice when any state asserts its identity, but Bengal will not accept this vindictive discrimination. Bengal's legitimate demand cannot be denied purely because we refuse to bow before the BJP high command," the TMC added on X.

The TMC government had passed a resolution to rename the state to Bangla, and has kept the demand before the Centre on several occasions.

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