India ‘renaming’ row: Opposition says ‘assault’ on Union of States, BJP snubs rumours

A controversy erupted in the political circles when a G20 Summit dinner invite was sent out in the name of the ‘President of Bharat’ and not the customary ‘President of India’. While the Opposition said there was a possibility of a name change for India to Bharat alleging it was an “assault” on the Union of States, the ruling parties hailed the development, saying it was a move for a push from the slavery mindset – an idea promoted by PM Modi in his Independence Day speech.

The controversy escalated when a Central government booklet on the prime minister’s visit to Indonesia for the ASEAN-India Summit referred to Narendra Modi as ‘Prime Minister of Bharat’.

-A formal invitation to foreign delegates for the G20 dinner was sent out in the name of the ‘President of Bharat’ and not India.

-The leaders of the Opposition bloc alleged that the Centre was resorting to “drama” and was nervous about the nomenclature just because they came together and named their grouping INDIA.

-Opposition leaders also alleged that the shift to “Bharat” instead of India was a way of preventing the alliance from being identified with the country’s name or could even be a signal from the government that the special session of Parliament to be held between September 18-22 would be about some change in the name of the country.

-After the Opposition bloc named itself ‘INDIA’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had compared it to East India Company, Indian Mujahideen and Popular Front of India (PFI), saying they all have ‘India’ in their names.

-In his Independence Day speech, too, PM Modi spoke about the need to break free from a mindset of subjugation, indicating the importance of shedding the colonial mentality.

-While it is still a speculation, Union Minister Anurag Thakur has said that all these are just rumours. “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.”

-Meanwhile, PM Modi has asked the Union Council of Ministers to refrain from getting into the India vs Bharat debate.