After the row over the use of ‘President of Bharat’ instead of the traditional ‘President of India’ in the official dinner invitations sent to guests attending this week’s G20 summit, a note on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Indonesia visit to attend the 20th ASEAN-India Summit and the 18th East Asia Summit has used the term “Prime Minister of Bharat”.
On Monday, Opposition leaders lambasted the government for changing the named of the country in official communications after dinner invitations from President Droupadi Murmu sent to G20 guests mentioned her as President of Bharat instead of India.
The opposition leaders said that the government changed the name because they have named their alliance INDIA. Leaders of at least 28 Opposition parties have formed an alliance to fight the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections unitedly. They have named their alliance INDIA – an acronym for Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance.
“If the name of the alliance is changed to Bharat, will they change the name of Bharat to BJP?” asked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, whose Aam Aadmi Party is also part of the INDIA bloc. Criticising the name change move, Kejriwal said that the country belongs to 140 crore people and not just to one party.
After president, use of ‘Prime Minister of Bharat’ has added more fuel to the fire. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh termed the government’s move a drama and said it was done only because the Opposition has named their alliance INDIA. He pointed out while the summit is called ASEAN-India, the “confused” government has used the term “Prime Minister of Bharat”.
“Look at how confused the Modi government is! The Prime Minister of Bharat at the 20th ASEAN-India summit. All this drama just because the Opposition got together and called itself INDIA,” he wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
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The BJP leaders appeared to support the move, but government called it just a rumour. Union Minister Anurag Thakur said that the branding and logo of the G20 summit will have both Bharat and India written.
“I think these are just rumours which are taking place. All I want to say is that anyone who objects to the word Bharat clearly shows the mindset,” Thakur was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has decided to write a letter to Prime Minister Modi on behalf of INDIA bloc parties and seek details on the agenda of the five-day special session of Parliament, which has not been revealed yet. Their speculations that the government may effect the name change in the Parliament.