Only Bengal campaign has been recently launched by Times Of India to catalyse the process of dropping the “West” from the name of the state. They point out –
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Residents of West Bengal are called Bengalis and not West Bengalis; there language is Bangla not “West Bangla”; Bengal continues to drag along the prefix ‘West’ before it, a constant reminder to one of history’s darkest and bloodiest events — Partition.
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Bay of Bengal and not the Bay of West Bengal.
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Royal Bengal tiger and not the Royal West Bengal tiger.
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When Punjab was divided, the eastern part was not named East Punjab. Then why did we name this state West Bengal after Partition?
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TOI has put up a poll on www.onlybengal.com wherein users can vote for their preference for the new name; choosing between Bengal, Banga, Bangla, Banga Pradesh and Bangadesh.