Amidst reports indicating that the Centre’s Narendra Modi government may change the country’s name from India to Bharat, Congress MP Shahshi Tharoor has suggested the opposition alliance, INDIA, to change its name to Bharat.
Tharoor wrote on social media platform X, “We could of course call ourselves the Alliance for Betterment, Harmony And Responsible Advancement for Tomorrow (BHARAT). Then perhaps the ruling party might stop this fatuous game of changing names.”
This was after many felt that the Centre’s possible move to change the country’s name from India to Bharat may have stemmed from Modi’s fear of taking on the opposition alliance, which was formed under a new name, I.N.D.I.A (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance), which is a coalition of 28 political outfits.
The controversy over a possible change of India’s name was triggered after President Droupadi Murmu used her title as the ‘President of Bharat’ instead of India in her invitation to the heads of states attending the G20 dinner.
Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha too tweeted, “We might consider changing the name of our alliance to BHARAT in the next meeting. Meanwhile the BJP should now start thinking of a new name for the country.”
Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP is also a part of the opposition alliance, INDIA.
Former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh highlighted the irony of the Modi government as he shared a government note on the ’20th ASEAN-India summit.’ While Modi was described as the Prime Minister of Bharat, the government note said that Modi will be attending the ’20th ASEAN-India summit.’
“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,” Ramesh wrote.
The government has also called for an emergency parliament session, which many believe has been convened to announce the change in the country’s name.
