India vs Bharat row | ‘Why did you not say 'Mahamahim of Bharat,’ says Ranjan Chowdhary as he takes dig at Centre
India vs Bharat row: G20 dinner official invitations in the name 'President of Bharat' instead of the usual 'President of India' stirred a huge controversy across nation, raised eyebrows of several leaders and politicians and ignited a public debate among political parties ahead of the G20 Summit in Delhi which is scheduled to take place for September 9th and 10th, 2023 and will be joined by representatives of member nations as well as guest nations.
Today, the Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary has also slammed the Centre over its move and said that this is the first step towards ‘changing’ the Constitution of the country.
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Adhir Ranjan alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is ‘scared’ of the word India since the Opposition bloc-- the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance was formed.
The Congress leader further said that the government should immediately abandon the President's House if they have a problem with British rule.
“Why did you not say 'Mahamahim of Bharat'; why did you write 'President of Bharat'? I feel that they (BJP) are scared of the word 'India'. Since the INDIA bloc has been formed, PM's hate towards 'INDIA' has increased. If the BJP has so much of a problem with the British rule, they should immediately abandon the Rashtrapati Bhavan because this was the viceroy house earlier,” Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary said on Tuesday.
He also asked the Central government to change the word ‘Hindu’ too if they want to change everything related to ‘outsiders’.
“Will you not say Khelo India, Start-up India and Make in India from now? We do not have any problem with the word 'Bharat'. I just want to suggest that they (the BJP) should change the word Hindu first because it was also given by foreigners and the word India was derived from it. Don't try to be revolutionary. All these are the signs to change the Constitution. They want to change the first article of the Constitution that says- India that is Bharat,” he added.
Notably, this is the first time that the government has used the 'Republic of Bharat' instead of India on an official invitation.
A government booklet on PM Modi’s upcoming visit to Indonesia for the ASEAN-India Summit also refers to him as the Prime Minister of Bharat.
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The move stirred a huge controversy as leaders from Congress and other parties have strongly opposed it, while the ruling dispensation has welcomed the decision.
- With inputs from agencies
