S Jaishankar On ‘India-Bharat’ Debate Amid Rumours Of Name Change

Taking a veiled dig at Opposition parties over their comments following Rashtrapati Bhawan sending out invitations for a G20 dinner on September 9 on behalf of ‘President of Bharat’, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said India that is Bharat is mentioned in the Constitution.

In an exclusive interview with ANI, the minister said that the connotation of the word ‘Bharat’ is also reflected in the Constitution.

“India that is Bharat, it is there in the Constitution. Please, I would invite everybody to read it,” S Jaishankar said.

The minister was asked about the opposition parties’ reaction and if the government is going to reposition India as Bharat coinciding with the G20 summit.

“Look when you say Bharat in a sense, a meaning and understanding and a connotation that comes with it and that is reflected in our Constitution as well,” he said.

Opposition parties have alleged that the government was resorting to “drama” just because they got together and called their bloc as INDIA.

BJP leaders have strongly supported the move by the government.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan posted on ‘X’ a picture of the dinner invite to him from the President and wrote a few lines from the national anthem.

“This should have happened earlier. This gives great satisfaction to the mind. ‘Bharat’ is our introduction. We are proud of it. The President has given priority to ‘Bharat’. This is the biggest statement to come out of the colonial mindset,” the minister told ANI.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh made a series of posts on the issue. “So the news is indeed true. Rashtrapati Bhawan has sent out an invite for a G20 dinner on September 9th in the name of ‘President of Bharat’ instead of the usual ‘President of India’.

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,” he said in a post on ‘X’, formerly known as Twitter.

The Congress leader accused the Modi government of trying to distort history and said ‘BHARAT” is objective of INDIA parties. “It is BHARAT-Bring Harmony, Amity, Reconciliation And Trust. Judega BHARAT Jeetega INDIA!,” Jairam Ramesh said.

Mr Jaishankar also spoke about the government’s efforts to hold G20 events in different parts of the country and said it is essential that today’s India develops sharper global awareness.

“Different cities, different states, different professions and generations, a sense of participation and ownership. And this is not restricted to the G20. It is a larger mindset. It could be in terms of today how you elect or select your political leaders, it could be about how economic benefits and social benefits are given.

“It could be about educational access, health access, I think the country in the last ten years has become much more democratized. That it isn’t in the capital, it isn’t only in the metropolitan cities, it isn’t only even in the big cities, you’ve taken it out, anything good which has happened in this country has been taken out to the entirety of this country,” the foreign affairs minister said.

“It’s absolutely essential that today’s India must develop sharper global awareness. Global awareness, because we do see when Prime Minister speaks about Amrit Kaal, that we have this 25 years where enormous possibilities are there before us. But those possibilities are realizable only when you understand the world,” Mr Jaishankar said.