INDIA vs Bharat: Opposition blasts BJP over 'President of Bharat’ invitation to G-20 leaders

Afraid of INDIA alliance, the Modi government has again reignited INDIA vs Bharat debate in order to take political mileage, said opposition party leaders on Tuesday.

Deviating from the established norms, the Modi government has sent dinner invitation to the G20 leaders, having ‘President of Bharat’ inscription ‘President of India’.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh was first to point out the anomaly. Launching a fresh attack on the Modi government, he said, “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' (sic)”.

In a swipe at the BJP-led Union government, the Congress leader went on, “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.”

Congress supporter and political activist, Tehseen Poonawala who is also an advocate at the Supreme Court wrote on X,  “Article 1. Of the Indian Constitution says "India that is Bharat shall be a union of states." 

No question of renaming India as only Bharat.”

"This simply cannot be done - as it is against the Basic Structure of our Constitution and Impossible to change. This will lead to even further problems in the North East and in South India. Impossible to drop the name INDIA !”  opined Tehseen.

Launching an scathing attack on Modi government, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked, “If an alliance of some parties become India, would they change the name of the country? The country belongs to 140 crore people, not to a party.”

“Let’s assume if the India alliance renames itself as Bharat, would they rename Bharat as BJP then?... What's this joke?... BJP is thinking that their vote count will decrease so they should change the name of Bharat,” quipped Kejriwal on X.

RJD leader Manoj Jha, referring to the tag line of INDIA alliance which is ‘Judega Bharat, Jeetega INDIA’ said, You [Modi government] can neither take Bharat nor INDIA away from us.”

“It has just been a few weeks since we named our alliance as INDIA and BJP has started sending invitations with 'Republic of Bharat' instead of 'Republic of India',” added Jha.

It is wroth recalling here that it was Assam Chief Minister Himnata Sharma who first tossed the idea of Bharat as a counterpoising political slogan against INDIA.

Though the Constitution, refers to the country as “India, that is Bharat” clamor is growing to change the name of the country during the special session of the parliament.

After Sharma, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Bansal demanded the removal of 'India' from the Constitution, arguing that it symbolizes colonial slavery.

Recently, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat has also voiced his support for the change of name. Urging citizens to “Bharat” instead of “India” Bhagwat said India is a Hindu Rashtra, and it has been known as Bharat since ages.