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‘India’ will chase BJP out of power: MK Stalin's attack amid ‘Bharat’ row
A row erupted after a picture of G20 dinner invite sent by Rashtrapati Bhawan, which contained 'President of Bharat' instead of ‘President of India’ went viral.
Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, in a fresh dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), remarked that after ‘nine years of ruling’, all they have delivered is a ‘name change’.
Stalin's attack comes amid the political controversy surrounding use of 'President of Bharat' instead of 'President of India' on the G20 dinner invite sent by Rashtrapati Bhawan. Mentioning the name of the INDIA bloc, Stalin asserted, “ 'India' will oust the BJP from power”
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Stalin said, “After Non-BJP forces united to dethrone the fascist BJP regime and aptly named their alliance #INDIA, 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!”
Row over name change from ‘India’ to ‘Bharat’
Following the G20 dinner invite sent by Rashtrapati Bhawan, which contained 'President of Bharat,' several Congress leaders, including Jairam Ramesh, KC Venugopal, Manish Tewari, and Shashi Tharoor, took to the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). They questioned the Modi government regarding the speculated name change of the country, alleging that the government intended to change the name from “India to Bharat”.
The grand old party has gone further to accuse the ruling dispensation of attempting to distort history due to concerns related to the newly formed I.N.D.I.A alliance.
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan shared the picture of the invite on X, using the hashtag '#PresidentOfBharat' and stated, “Jana Gana Mana Adhinayak Jaya He, Bharat Bhagya Vidhata.” In a post on X, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, "REPUBLIC OF BHARAT - happy and proud that our civilization is boldly advancing towards AMRIT KAAL."
What did other Oppn leaders say?
West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has questioned the sudden shift to using "Bharat" instead of "India"while referring to India in official communique. Alluding to the controversy over a G20 dinner invite in the name of 'President of Bharat',
“I've heard that they are changing India's name. The G20 invitation addressed to the honorable president carries the name 'Bharat.' In English, we say India and the 'Indian Constitution.' In Hindi, we say 'Bharat ka Samvidhan.' We all refer to it as 'Bharat.' What's the sudden need for change? The world knows us as India,” she questioned while speaking at an event on Teacher’s Day in Kolkata.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also weighed in, questioning the BJP and its apparent unease over the opposition alliance INDIA considering renaming itself 'Bharat.' Kejriwal said, “I don't have official information on this. I've heard rumors. Why is this happening? It's being said that this is because we formed an alliance named INDIA... The country belongs to 1.4 billion people, not just one party. If the INDIA alliance decides to become Bharat, will they also change the name of Bharat?”
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar added his voice to the Oppostion's take saying “no one has the authority to alter the country's name.”
“I don't understand why the ruling party is perturbed over a name related to the country,” Pawar told reporters at a press conference in Maharashtra's Jalgaon district.
