India vs Bharat: Here’s How The Opposition Reacted To The Name-Change Row

A debate between the government and the opposition INDIA bloc erupted, as the invite for a G20 summit dinner with 'President of Bharat' (and not President of India) inscribed on it, surfaced.

The opposition leaders condemned the move and linked it to their 28-party alliance calling themselves INDIA.

However, on Wednesday, Union Minister Anurag Thakur told The Indian Express that these were "just rumours" but this clearly shows the opposition's mindset towards the name ‘Bharat’ .

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, in a tweet, said, “Now, Article 1 in the Constitution can read: Bharat, that was India, shall be a Union of States. But now even this ‘Union of States’ is under assault.”

Accusing the BJP of “rewriting history”, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said, “We all say ‘Bharat’. What is new in this? But the name India is known to the world. What happened that they suddenly had to change the name of the country?”

According to Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, although there is no constitutional objection to calling India ‘Bharat’, the government should not be “so foolish as to completely dispense with ‘India’, which has incalculable brand value built up over centuries”.

According to Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin, this would be the only “transformation” which the BJP could manage 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,” he said.

Questioning the move, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said, “Let’s say, if the INDIA alliance holds a meeting and decides to rename it to Bharat, will they change the name again?”

Former Jammu and Kashmir CM, Mehbooba Mufti, in a tweet, said, “For the first time in India’s post-Independence history, a party with a brute majority is treating the entire country as its fiefdom.”