BJP lauds 'President of Bharat' reference, says it underscores country's civilisational march

The BJP on Tuesday reacted with delight to a G20 dinner invitation which described Droupadi Murmu as "President of Bharat", saying the use of the Hindi name for the country underscores its "civilisation march", and rejected the opposition's objections to it.

It was some opposition leaders, including Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, who first 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".

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".

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, "Republic of Bharat- happy and proud that our civilisation is marching ahead boldly towards Amrit Kaal."

Rejecting the opposition's criticism, he said, "The name Bharat is mentioned in the Constitution and the country has been known by it for thousands of years. Our country was Bharat, is Bharat and will remain Bharat."

"In this Amrit Kaal people want that their country's name should be known as Bharat. Why should it have an English name. What is the problem of the Congress? 'India' word was used by British. The original name is Bharat," Sarma said.

Their own prince, he said, in a sarcastic reference to Rahul Gandhi, named his foot-march as "Bharat Jodo Yatra."

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.

BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh slammed the opposition, saying sometimes they have a problem with Vande Matram and other times they have an issue with nationalism.

"Bharat word is not new. It has been used since ancient times. Bharat Mata and Vande Matram is in our blood and nothing will happen by your opposition. Bharat word is mentioned in the Constitution. New Khiljis and new Mughals have come who want to remove Bharat," he said.