Oppositions react to India vs. Bharat renaming row. Read to know more.

PUNE: The invitation for the G20 summit dinner has become a subject of debate between the government and opposition parties, with people also commenting on it on social media. 

The latest invitation for the September 9th dinner referred to President Droupadi Murmu as the ‘President of Bharat’, which has gone viral on social media platforms.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan posted an image of the invite on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) and used the hashtag ‘#PresidentOfBharat’. He also quoted the national anthem, “Jana Gana Mana Adhinayak Jaya He, Bharat Bhagya Vidhata”.

Opposition leaders have been questioning the government’s motive and accusing them of assaulting the idea of a Union of States. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh referred to Article 1 of the Constitution and criticized the government for using ‘President of Bharat’ instead of ‘President of India’ in the invite.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee raised concerns about the recent use of the term “Bharat” instead of “India” in official communications. She questioned the sudden need for this change and pointed out that both “India” and “Bharat” are used interchangeably in the country. Banerjee emphasized that the country has always been known as India internationally, so there seems to be no reason for this sudden alteration.

Tamil Nadu CM and DMK chief MK Stalin took a swipe at BJP, stating that they promised to transform India but all they did was change the name after nine years. He also mentioned that the BJP recognizes the strength of unity within the opposition and that ‘India’ will chase them out of power during the elections.