Indian President Droupadi Murmu\u2019s reference to herself as the \u201cPresident of Bharat\u201d in a dinner invitation, instead of \u201cPresident of India\u201d, sparked controversy on Tuesday, with critics saying the name of the country is being distorted.<\/p>\n
Murmu is hosting a reception for G20 leaders during the group\u2019s summit on Saturday and invitations were sent from her office, reports AlArabia English News service.<\/p>\n
India is also called Bharat, Bharata, Hindustan – its pre-colonial names – in Indian languages and these are used interchangeably by the public and officially.<\/p>\n
High offices in the country have typically stuck to titles such as President of India, Prime Minister of India and Chief Justice of India while communicating in English.<\/p>\n
Over the years though, Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has been changing colonial names to, what it says, help India move past a mentality of slavery.<\/p>\n
Supporters of the name change in the invitation said British colonial rulers had coined the name India to overshadow Bharat and forge a British legacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur country\u2019s name is Bharat and there should be no doubt about it,\u201d said Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a federal deputy minister.<\/p>\n
Hindu groups linked to BJP said the G20 summit provided the best opportunity to shed India\u2019s colonial baggage.
\nOpposition leaders were, however, critical of the change, with some saying it aimed to eclipse their two-month-old political alliance which is also called \u201cINDIA.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all say \u2018Bharat\u2019, what is new in this? But the name \u2018India\u2019 is known to the world…What happened suddenly that the government had to change the name of the country?\u201d said Mamata Banerjee, a top opposition leader.<\/p>\n
Shashi Tharoor of the opposition Congress party posted on X, previously known as Twitter, \u201cI hope the government will not be so foolish as to completely dispense with India, which has incalculable brand value built up over centuries.\u201d
\nThe change to \u201cPresident of Bharat\u201d comes less than two months after opposition parties formed the \u201cINDIA\u201d alliance to challenge BJP in national elections next year.<\/p>\n
INDIA, they said, stands for Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.<\/p>\n
Political analysts said it was a clever coinage to take on the BJP\u2019s nationalist platform.
\nIndia\u2019s president is a non-party executive with only ceremonial powers. She is traditionally backed and elected by the party in power.<\/p>\n
An official at the president\u2019s office said they didn\u2019t want to comment on the issue when asked\u00a0by\u00a0Reuters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Indian President Droupadi Murmu\u2019s reference to herself as the \u201cPresident of Bharat\u201d in a dinner invitation, instead of \u201cPresident of India\u201d, sparked controversy on Tuesday, with critics saying the name of the country is being distorted. Murmu is hosting a reception for G20 leaders during the group\u2019s summit on Saturday and invitations were sent from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":138195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-india"],"yoast_head":"\n