While East Bengal went on to become Bangladesh in 1971, its Indian counterpart continued to be called West Bengal. The West Bengal government on Tuesday passed a proposal to rename the state as just Bengal. It was during Partition in 1947 that the British province of Bengal was split into West Bengal, which stayed with India, and East Bengal, which went to the newly-created Pakistan. Author Sirshendu Mukherjee and veteran actor Soumitra Chatterjee said that the name ‘West Bengal’ was irrelevant as there is no place called ‘East Bengal’ now. It would have to be then ratified by Parliament before West Bengal actually becomes Bengal.

Source: The Hindu August 02, 2016 10:30 UTC