The term “President of Bharat” has been used for the first time in an official invite to heads of state attending the weekend G20 summit, replacing the customary ‘President of India.’
The presidential invite drew criticism from Opposition leaders.
“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’,” senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Ramesh further 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.”
This comes in the wake of the special session of Parliament – scheduled for September 18-22 – wherein it is widely being speculated that a proposal is being prepared to remove the word ‘India’ from the Constitution.
Two days ago, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat had said that the name Bharat has been continuing since ancient times and must be taken forward.
