Ahead of the summit, the G20 dinner invite to delegates written 'President of Bharat', instead of 'President of India' has sparked another row. Opposition parties of INDIA alliance criticised the BJP-led government for continuing to distort history.
Reacting to the invite, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the “union of states is under assault”.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter) Ramesh said that "Modi can continue to distort history and divide India, that is Bharat, that is a Union of States. But we will not be deterred."
"So the news is indeed true. Rashtrapati Bhawan has sent out an invite for a G20 dinner on Sept 9th in the name of 'President of Bharat' instead of the usual 'President of India'," Ramesh said in his post.
Tamil Nadu CM M. K. Stalin criticised BJP by saying that all they could come up with was a name change after 9 years promise to transform India. “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!”
However, Rajya Sabha MP and BJP leader Sushil Modi said that the name India was given by the Britishers. "In the Constitution, both India and 'Bharat' are there. For 75 years if the President of India was written then what's the objection in writing President of 'Bharat'? We don't say 'India Mata ki Jai' but 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'...The name India was given by the Britishers. RJD and JDU have an objection with the name Bharat then they use the name India," Sushil told ANI.
With the special session of the Parliament to be held on September 18, the ‘Bharat’ row is set to pick up pace. Reportedly, the Centre may be bringing up a resolution to rename India as ‘Bharat’ in the special session.
Meanwhile, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah said that there was no need for a change in the name India. "In our Constitution, it is incorporated that 'Constitution of India'. India is an accepted word for the country making it 'Bharat', I don't think is required."
Generally, three paraliamentary sessions are held in a year--Budget, Monsoon and Winter sessions.
Sources had said the "special session", without question hour, could see parliamentary operations being shifted to the new Parliament building which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28.