Speculations are rife that India could be renamed Bharat at the upcoming special session of Parliament from September 18-22.
The rumours came up after reports emerged that Rashtrapati Bhawan had sent an invite for a G20 dinner on September 9 in the name of ‘President of Bharat’ instead of the usual “President of India.”
Politicians from the Northeast, including Chief Ministers, have reacted to the speculation on their social media platforms and also in direct conversation with EastMojo.
Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chief Minister of Assam: Sarma was quick to comment on the speculation, saying “REPUBLIC OF BHARAT – happy and proud that our civilisation is marching ahead boldly towards AMRIT KAAL.”
In another tweet, he wrote, “Now my apprehension has proven to be true. The Congress party seems to have a strong aversion towards Bharat. It appears that the name ‘I.N.D.I alliance’ was intentionally chosen with the aim of defeating BHARAT.”
Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barma, founder of Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA Motha), also reacted to the speculation, saying “How can anyone oppose the name ‘Bharat’ From school we were taught that India is Bharat and Bharat is India. And some of my former colleagues who participated in the Bharat Jodo Yatra today cannot say that they will oppose the name Bharat. Please don’t indulge in negative politics it will harm you in the future. All decisions cannot be opposed for the sake of opposition.”
Pema Khandu, Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh: Khandu posted the G20 dinner invite on his Twitter account with the caption, “BHARAT Maa Tujhe Salaam.”
Manik Saha, Chief Minister of Tripura: Saha also posted the dinner invite with the caption, “Historical…” and #RepublicOfBharat hashtag.
At the time of filing this report, there had been no statements from the Chief Ministers of Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Manipur in their official handles.
EastMojo spoke to Mmhonlumo Kikon, from the Nagaland Legislative Assembly, who commented, “Right now it’s just a rumour and although it has attracted so much attention on social media, we have to wait for any official move as such!”
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The spokesperson of the Congress party in Mizoram, Lallianchhunga had an adverse reaction to the speculations. He told EastMojo, “The move to change the official name of the country from India to Bharat is an attempt to form a Hindu country. Just before an invite was sent out saying ‘President of Bharat,’ the right-wing group RSS had made a statement saying we should no longer use India but Bharat.”
“BJP is trying to implement ‘One Nation, One Election’ as well as ‘One Nation, One Law’ (Uniform Civil Code) and if things continue this way it will become a motto of ‘One Nation, One Religion,'” he said.
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