NEW DELHI: A political war erupted on Tuesday over President Droupadi Murmu’s G20 dinner invite for September 9 where she is called the President of Bharat.
Amid signals that an amendment to the Constitution may be brought in the upcoming special session of Parliament to rename India as Bharat, the Congress questioned the move while BJP chief JP Nadda slammed the Congress for “opposing everything that relates to national pride”.
The opposition was quick to accuse the ruling BJP of changing India’s name to Bharat following anxiety over the newly united INDIA bloc.
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma was the first to give away the possibility of India being renamed Bharat with his x post “Welcome the Republic of Bharat.”
Nadda in a post asked why does the Congress have so much objection to every subject related to the honour and pride of the country?
“Why do political yatras in the name of ‘Bharat Jodo’ and hate the proclamation of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’? It is clear that the Congress has neither respect for the country, nor for the Constitution, nor for the constitutional institutions. They just praise a particular family.
The whole country knows very well the anti-national and anti-constitutional intentions of the Congress,” said Nadda.
Earlier on Tuesday, AICC general secretary organisation Jairam Ramesh said, “Rashtrapati Bhawan had 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 posted on X raising speculation on whether the special session of Parliament from September 18 to 22 could seek to amend the Constitution to replace the word India with Bharat.
Jairam said, “Modi can continue to distort history and divide India, that is Bharat, that is a Union of States but we will not be deterred.”
“After all, what is the objective of INDIA parties? It is BHARAT—Bring Harmony, Amity, Reconciliation And Trust. Judega BHARAT, Jeetega INDIA,” said Jairam as the name game continued.
The BJP said Bharat is an accepted name across the country and reflects the magnificent continuum called the Indian civilisation.