NEW DELHI: A political row erupted on Tuesday after the Centre approved the Kerala government’s proposal to rename the state “Keralam,” with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee questioning why a similar proposal for her state remains pending.Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, Banerjee described them as “Bangla-birodhi” (anti-Bengal).“Smt. @MamataOfficial 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 pending for years,” the Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) posted on X.“Every election season, @narendramodi and @AmitShah 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,” the party added, quoting Banerjee.The TMC further said that while it rejoices when any state “asserts its identity,” West Bengal would not accept what it termed the BJP-led Centre’s “vindictive discrimination.”“Bengal’s legitimate demand cannot be denied purely because we refuse to bow before @BJP4India’s high command,” it stated.The Banerjee-led government, in office since 2011, had passed a resolution in July 2018 to rename West Bengal as “Bangla” and has reiterated the demand to the Centre on multiple occasions.The decision to clear Kerala’s name change comes ahead of assembly elections in the state, expected in April. West Bengal, too, is poll-bound, and is likely to head to the polls around the same time.
