The fact that the central government has officially used the word Bharat instead of the word India has led to a huge debate in the political sphere. Opposition leaders criticized the move.
They said that the BJP is doing this because the 28-party alliance has been named as India. But the BJP questioned why some parties “object to every issue related to the honor and pride of the country”.
Reacting to the use of the term ‘President of Bharat’ instead of ‘President of India’ in the official invitation to foreign leaders attending the G20 summit, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal asked if the ruling party would change the country’s name to ‘BJP’ if the opposition alliance decided to call itself ‘Bharat’.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Kejriwal said, “I have no official information that the name change is taking place. Will the Centre change it because many opposition parties have joined forces and called it India? What is the name of the country? The country belongs to 140 crore people and not to one party, if the name of alliance is changed to Bharat, will they change the name of Bharat to BJP? Asked that.
Kejriwal’s party colleague and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha also lashed out at the BJP, saying the country does not belong to one political party.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee responded, “The whole world knows India. Asked if Rabindranath Tagore’s name will be changed in future. I have heard that they are changing the name of India. Bharat is written in the President’s name. What’s new in this? We say India in English and Bharat in Hindi. We also say Bharat. But the world knows it as India, what suddenly happened to change the name of the country? Will Rabindranath Tagore’s name be changed too? she asked.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kalagam President MK Stalin said, “The BJP promised to transform India. But the country got only a name change after nine years,” he said.
After the non-BJP forces united to oust the fascist BJP regime and aptly named their alliance INDIA, now the BJP wants to replace ‘India’ with ‘Bharat’. BJP promised to transform India, but all we got was a name change after 9 years! The BJP seems unfazed by the single word India because they recognize the strength of unity within the opposition. During elections, ‘India’ will drive BJP out of power,” the DMK chief tweeted.
Addressing a press conference in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar said, “No one has the right to change the name of the country. “I don’t understand why the ruling party is confused about the name associated with the country,” the NCP chief said.
Congress president Mallikarjuna Kharge has called a meeting of India Maitri Party chiefs on Wednesday. This will be discussed in the meeting, but no one has the right to change the name (of the country). PTI reported that Pawar said that no one can change the name.
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is afraid of India alliance, saying that India is everywhere from the country’s constitution to the passport.
“Prime Minister Modi is afraid of the India alliance. We have the President of India, Minister of India. Name on passport and Aadhaar cards. The Constitution says We the People of India, Bharat in Hindi. If they have a problem with the name India, they should also have a problem with Bharat. Because our slogan is Judega Bharat, Jeetega India,” said Tejashwi Yadav.
“A few days ago they were saying ‘Vote for India’. Now they want to hide the name of India and write it as Bharat. But there is no difference between India and Bharat . One is English and the other is Hindi. Decisions are being made because they are anxious. How many places will you remove the name from? How much do you spend? Changing a name can cost as much as a state’s budget. What will happen to Make in India and Skill India?” Yadav asked.
The move was criticized by the Congress, which accused the Narendra Modi government of “twisting history and dividing India”.
“I hope the government will not be so ‘stupid’ as to abandon the name ‘India’, which has a brand value built over centuries,” Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said.
” While there is no constitutional objection to calling India as ‘Bharat’, one of the two official names of the country, “India” has incalculable brand value.
