‘Bharat’ replaces ‘India’ in G-20 invite from President
An invite for a G20 summit dinner with ‘President of Bharat’ inscribed on it has set off a major controversy and fueled talk of the government’s plans to rename India in the upcoming special session of Parliament.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh called attention to the invite on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “So the news is indeed true” amid calls by some BJP leaders to replace the name India with Bharat.
Ramesh tweeted that an invite from the Rashtrapati Bhavan for a dinner on September 9 – the opening day of the G20 Summit – said ‘President of Bharat’ instead of the customary ‘President of India’.
“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’ (sic),” Ramesh tweeted.
In a swipe at the government, the Congress leader wrote, “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.”