NB Viewpoint | I.N.D.I.A leaders react to 'President of Bharat'; Express their silly belief of 'India-to-Bharat' narrative

"...Today, they (Centre) changed the name of India. In the invitation card for the G20 Summit dinner, it is mentioned 'Bharat'...In English, we say 'India' and the 'Indian Constitution' and in Hindi, we say 'Bharat ka Samvidhan'. We all say 'Bharat', what is new in this? But the name 'India' is known to the world...What happened suddenly that they had to change the name of the country?... History is being rewritten in the country" - Mamata Banerjee

"The BJP's recent move to change the reference from 'President of India' to 'President of Bharat' on official G20 summit invitations has raised eyebrows and ignited a public debate. How can the BJP strike down 'INDIA'? The country doesn't belong to a political party; it belongs to 135 crore Indians." - Raghav Chadha

“So the news is indeed true. Rashtrapati Bhawan has sent out an invite for a G20 dinner on Sept 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” - Jairam Ramesh

New Delhi, Sept 5: Recently, a controversy sparked between the government and the opposition, as Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan shared a screenshot of the President's invite for G20 dinner which bore the name ‘Republic of Bharat’.

The question "Is our country ‘INDIA’ going to be renamed ‘Bharat’?" is being raised by the opposition and yet again their multiple reactions have unveiled their lack of knowledge about Indian history and the legacy of the country.

Also read: India to Bharat or Bharat to India? Here are some countries that changed their names

The opposition parties including Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party have cried foul over the invite. The grand old party has even gone on to accuse the ruling dispensation of trying to distort history out of fear of the newly formed I.N.D.I.A alliance.

Also read: Trouble for Udhayanidhi! 262 eminent personalities write to CJI, to take cognisance of Stalin’s hate speech

It should be noted that the controversy over the G20 dinner invite comes ahead of the special session of parliament, triggering speculations on what really will be on the agenda. Its funny that the opposition has put forth the narrative that the story has turned from India to Bharat, which is evidently not true. According to historical references, India has been referred as 'Bharatvarsha' since ancient times.