The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on the other hand, heaped praise on a G20 dinner invitation that described Droupadi Murmu as “President of Bharat”.
Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday launched a scathing attack against the opposition parties for criticising the ‘President of Bharat’ reference on G20 dinner invitation. Talking to the media, Sarma said, “First of all, the Opposition is conspiring to erase Hinduism. Now, the issue is – erasing Bharat itself. They should first go and ask Rahul Gandhi why did he call it ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ and not ‘India Jodo Yatra’. They object when we call it Bharat but when your Yuvraj calls it Bharat, you have no problem?”
Some opposition leaders, including Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, highlighted the development and accused the government of assaulting the idea of the country being a “Union of States”, as mentioned in the Constitution which describes the country as “India, that is Bharat”.
#WATCH | On Opposition criticising the ‘President of Bharat’ reference, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma says, “First of all, the Opposition is conspiring to erase Hinduism. Now, the issue is – erasing Bharat itself. They should first go and ask Rahul Gandhi why did he call it… pic.twitter.com/5TiB1lUgCv
— ANI (@ANI) September 5, 2023
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on the other hand, heaped praise on a G20 dinner invitation that described Droupadi Murmu as “President of Bharat”, saying the use of the Hindi name for the country underscores its “civilisation march”. The saffron camp, in the same breath, rejected the opposition’s objections to it.
Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Giriraj Singh later posted on X pictures of their invites. Sharing a picture of his invite, Pradhan used the hashtag ‘#PresidentOfBharat’ and said, “Jana Gana Mana Adhinayak Jaya He, Bharat Bhagya Vidhata”.
जन गण मन अधिनायक जय हे, भारत भाग्य विधाता
जय हो 🇮🇳#PresidentOfBharat pic.twitter.com/C4RmR0uGGS
— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) September 5, 2023
Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that “Our country is Bharat and there should be no doubt about this.” The Congress has a problem with everything, he said. Asked if the government is planning to do away with ‘India’ as the country’s name during the coming special session of Parliament, he said he cannot react to speculation.