Mamata mulls changing Bengal’s name to ‘Bongo’, twitteratis go bonkers

New Delhi: The "West" in West Bengal is likely to disappear with the Mamata Banerjee government on Tuesday adopting a proposal to rename the state as "Bengal" to “Bongo”, a move that evoked mixed reactions from both eminent persons and commoners. Announcing the state cabinet decision adopting the proposal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee said a special session of the assembly will be convened from August 26 to discuss and pass a resolution to give effect to the new name. In Bengali, the state is currently referred to as "Paschim Banga" or "Paschim Bangla". The renaming exercise, which the Mamata Banerjee government had undertaken in 2011 as well, attracted mixed reactions from authors, singers and politicians, with some giving it the thumbs up while others frowned at the move.

Imagine the number of bollywood songs with this word if #WestBengal was renamed as #Bongo in the nineties. Eg- Bongo-oooooo Bongo Ha ha ha.

— ruchi kokcha (@ruchikokcha) August 2, 2016

For Sahitya Akademi award winning author Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, the move isn't rechristening, rather reinstating the state's original name. "The name West Bengal is meaningless. The state was originally known as Bangabhoomi in an earlier age. After Partition, the name of the state was changed. Many of us did not like it. I would not call it rechristening, rather going back to the original nomenclature," said Mukhopadhyay. lockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> Bongo? Waiting for Malayali to be officially called Mango... err... Mallu and Kerala as Mallu Pradesh — Tinu Cherian Abraham (@tinucherian) August 2, 2016 The name change speculations mooted several reactions and has created waves on the social media such as Twitter and Facebook, from people staying in and outside Bengal.

Now #WestBengal to #Bongo. My #cartoon pic.twitter.com/a6zEcMzUSf

— MANJUL (@MANJULtoons) August 3, 2016

West Bengal Because @MamataOfficial wants her #Bongo and play it too. pic.twitter.com/9OwcZKX3EZ — Bramha Kamal (@BramhaKamal) August 2, 2016 After the partition of India in 1947, Bengal was bifurcated as East Bengal and West Bengal. East Bengal became a part of Pakistan. It was rechristened East Pakistan in 1956 and later emerged as the independent nation of Bangladesh after the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971.