President of Bharat on G20 invite triggers political row
BJP defends Bharat name, saying ‘our country is Bharat’, while Opposition hits back
image for illustrative purpose
New Delhi: A G20 dinner invitation from President DroupadiMurmu describing her position as 'President of Bharat' triggered massive debate on Tuesday, with the opposition alleging that the government is planning to drop India and stay with just Bharat as the country's name.
Lending credence to the speculation, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan shared on X a G20 dinner invitation from the president for Saturday at Bharat Mandapam, the venue for the G20 summit of world leaders.
Sharing a picture of his invite, Pradhan used the hashtag '#PresidentOfBharat' and said, "Jana Gana Mana Adhinayak Jaya He, Bharat Bhagya Vidhata". Besides the first line of the national anthem, the post in Hindi also used the words "Jai Ho". The invitation, which was widely shared on social media, led to a storm of reactions with the opposition alleging that the move was reflective of the BJP being scared of the INDIA bloc and the ruling party asserting that there was nothing wrong in using Bharat as it is part of the Constitution.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X, "So the news is indeed true. Rashtrapati Bhawan has sent out an invite for a G20 dinner on Sept 9th in the name of 'President of Bharat' instead of the usual 'President of India'." "Now, Article 1 in the Constitution can read: Bharat, that was India, shall be a Union of States.But now even this Union of States is under assault," Ramesh alleged. In another post, he said the BJP was the one which had come up with the India Shining' campaign to which the Congress' response was 'AamAadmi ko Kya Mila'. "Also remember that it was the BJP that came up with Digital India, Start Up India, New India, and so on to which the Congress' response was the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the first anniversary of whose launch is day after tomorrow," he said.
In another post, Ramesh said, "Mr. Modi can continue to distort history and divide India, that is Bharat, that is a Union of States. But we will not be deterred." As leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc took up the refrain to criticise the government, many BJP leaders hit back.
Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar asked what is the problem with using 'President of Bharat' as our country is also Bharat. "Congress looks at everything as tinkering. Sometimes they will talk about eradicating 'Sanatan Dharma'. I don't see there is any problem. If we won't use the name of Bharat as Bharat then what else," he said.Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee said,"We all know India is Bharat, but world knows us as India." What changed suddenly that we should use only Bharat, she asked.
Her Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin also lashed out at the government over the issue, saying that after "non-BJP forces united to dethrone the fascist BJP regime" and aptly named their alliance INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance), now the BJP wants to change 'India' for 'Bharat.' "BJP promised to TRANSFORM India, but all we got is a name change after 9 years!Seems like the BJP is rattled by a single term called India because they recognise the strength of unity within the opposition. During the elections, 'India' will chase BJP out of power!" Stalin said.
