Gangopadhyaya, who currently heads the Vhasa Chetana Prosar Samiti (VCPS), had recently submitted a memorandum to the Left Front Government, urging it to change the name of Calcutta to ``Colcutta'' and West Bengal to ``Paschim Bango'' -- the way both are pronounced in Bengali.

Gangopadhyaya, whose name was dropped from the list of personages invited to travel in the first bus to Dhaka last week, told The Indian Express that ``Not only the change of names of the city and the state, we have also urged the Government to make Bengali compulsory in all schools, including English-medium public schools''.

The Left Front, which apparently gave serious thought to the demands, told reporters today, ``The LeftFront partners have strongly recommended to the state government to give the demands serious consideration.''

Biman Bose, a senior state CPI(M) leader and the party's Politburo member, said: ``During the meeting today, all the LF partners agreed that the demands of the VCPS hold good in face of the recent change of names of other important cities in the country.'' He added: ``The name of Madras has been changed to Chennai and Bombay to Mumbai, so we must try to restore the original names of our state and its capital.''

Incidentally, a few years ago, there had been a move to change the name of West Bengal, but due to lack of consensus and lack of continuity, the popular heat it had generated fumigated soon.

Interestingly, in an election year, with the LF throwing its weight behind the move, it is expected to gather momentum unlike other times, the observers feel. The move also coincides with the state administration stressing the need to use Bengali as the medium in the official day-to-day lettersexchanged by the bureaucrats and ministers.