Amid the raging controversy over government’s move to use the term ‘Bharat’ instead of India to address the President and Prime Minister of the country, Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said that the name “Bharat” is also mentioned in the Indian Constitution and that he would like everyone to read it.
“India that is Bharat, it is there in the Constitution. Please, I would invite everybody to read it,” news agency ANI quoted the minister as saying in an exclusive interview.
Earlier on Monday, President Droupadi Murmu’s official dinner invitation to the leaders of G20 summit mentioned her as “President of Bharat” instead of the traditional “President of India”. Later, a note on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Indonesia for the 18th ASEAN-India summit used the term “Prime Minister of Bharat”.
The move irked the Opposition parties who joined hands in criticising the government for trying to change the country’s name. Reacting to Jaishankar’s clarification, RJD MP Manoj Jha argued that the name was changed because the Opposition has named their alliance INDIA – an abbreviation of Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance.
“I invite EAM Jaishankar to come and read the Constitution with me. ‘India that is Bharat’ is Article 1. We didn’t hear him saying anything like that before 19th July… 19 July means the day when the INDIA alliance was formed… What will Jaishankar do if we make further abbreviations and change the alliance’s name to India Bharat…” news agency ANI quoted the RJD leader.
Congress leader Pramod Tiwari also echoed his INDIA alliance partner and said that the Congress doesn’t have problem with anyone using the name Bharat and what they were opposing was that one of the BJP leaders suggested dropping India.
“There have been bills and debates on it… The Foreign Minister is asking to read the Constitution but I would suggest that he should read history… I would say that you have given a cowardly statement on China from the country’s leadership… We have been saying that whoever wants to use ‘Bharat’, should use it… We reacted when one of your MPs said that Bharat should stay, and India should be removed…,” Tiwari said.
There are rumours that the government will effect the name change during the five-day special session of Parliament starting from September 18. The government has kept the agenda of the special session hidden.