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‘India vs Bharat’ row: Akhilesh Yadav suggests BJP to change party name to this
Akhilesh Yadav said if the BJP wants to eliminate English language, it should first remove the English word 'Party' from its name, Bharatiya Janata Party.
Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday took a dig at the BJP for pushing ‘Bharat’ over the country's English name ‘India’ after 26 opposition parties formed a joint bloc and named it Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) and suggested a new name for the ruling party.
Yadav said that though the mutual use of languages is considered development, even if the BJP want to eliminate English language word, which it thinks as a symbol of slavery, it should first remove the English word 'Party' from its name, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and change it 'Bharatiya Janta Dal' (BJD).
"Although the meeting and mutual use of languages is considered a symbol of development of humanity and harmony among big-minded people, yet if the narrow-minded BJP and its allies want to change the word of a language as a symbol of slavery, then First of all, BJP should also call a special session of its own and by removing the English word 'Party' from its name, the word 'Dal' of the indigenous tradition should change its name from BJP to BJD", he posted on X (formerly Twitter) in Hindi.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor also took a swipe at BJP saying that the ruling party might stop the “fatuous game” of changing names if the opposition parties rechristen the newly formed bloc as Alliance for Betterment, Harmony And Responsible Advancement for Tomorrow (BHARAT).
A political slugfest has been triggered over the name of the country after the central government sent out G20 dinner invites to global leaders and G20 delegates in the name of the ‘President of Bharat’ instead of the usual ‘President of India’, triggering speculation that the government may be about to change the country's name.
While the BJP leaders suggested that the name Bharat should take primacy over India, opposition leaders termed it a distraction saying 'Bharat' is already mentioned in the constitution.
The preamble to the English version of the constitution starts with “We, the people of India…,” and then in Part One of the document it states “India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.” In Hindi, the constitution replaces India with term Bharat everywhere, except the part defining the country’s names, which says in Hindi, “Bharat, that is India, shall be a Union of States.”
Meanwhile, amid the debate of a possible name change of ‘India’ to ‘Bharat’, a top United Nations official said the UN considers requests from countries to change their names as and when it receives them.
