Now, ‘Prime Minister Of Bharat’ Adds Fuel To Name-Change Fire

Even as the dinner invite to G20 leaders from President Droupadi Murmu sparked controversy and speculation after using the term ‘President of Bharat’ instead of the traditional ‘President of India’ on Tuesday, another document has come to light that refers to Narendra Modi as the ‘Prime Minister of Bharat’.

A note on the Prime Minister’s visit to Indonesia on Wednesday and Thursday for the 20th ASEAN-India Summit and the 18th East Asia Summit uses the term ‘Prime Minister of Bharat’.

The note was posted on X, formerly Twitter, by BJP National Spokesperson Sambit Patra and invited an immediate attack from the Congress, which pointed out that both the ‘ASEAN-India Summit’ and the ‘Prime Minister of Bharat’ were used in the same document.

“Look at how confused the Modi government is! The Prime Minister of Bharat at the 20th ASEAN-India summit. All this drama just because the Opposition got together and called itself INDIA,” Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh posted on the platform.

Look at how confused the Modi government is! The Prime Minister of Bharat at the 20th ASEAN-India summit.

The identity cards of Indian officials at the G20 Summit on September 9 and 10 will also now say ‘Bharat – Official’.

The G20 invitation from the President has led to buzz about the country’s name being changed and raised the possibility of this being done in the special session of Parliament from September 18-22. The fact that the government has not announced any agenda for the special session has only added to the speculation.

The opposition has linked the possible move to its 28-party alliance calling itself ‘INDIA’ and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has questioned what the Centre will do if the bloc decides to rename itself ‘Bharat’.

“Just because many opposition parties have formed an alliance and called it INDIA, will the Centre change the name of the country? The country belongs to 140 crore people, not to one party. If the name of the alliance is changed to Bharat, will they change the name of Bharat to BJP,” the AAP chief asked on Tuesday.

Several BJP leaders have welcomed the use of ‘Bharat’, with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeting that the wording of the Presidential invite had made him proud.

“REPUBLIC OF BHARAT – happy and proud that our civilisation is marching ahead boldly towards AMRIT KAAL,” he had posted on X.

BJP President JP Nadda had also hit out at the Congress and accused the party of objecting to every issue “related to the honour and pride of the country”.