"Where will such discussions take us?": Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren on Bharat vs India row
Sep 06, 2023
Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], September 6 : Amid the Bharta vs India row, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Wednesday expressed concern that at a time when India created history by reaching the unexplored side of the moon, meaningless discussions were being held across the country.
"A mockery of the nation is being made at the international level. There seems to be no end to the debates being held in media and on TV Channels. We have reached the moon. Where will such discussions take us? Let us wait and see," CM Soren said.
Soren was responding to the political slugfest which was triggered after the invitation for the G20 dinner was sent out in the name of the President of 'Bharat' and not India.
He said he had received the invitation for the G20 dinner and will inform accordingly after looking into all aspects
The debate started after Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan shared on X, formerly Twitter, a G20 dinner invite in which Droupadi Murmu was described as 'President of Bharat'.
Notably, this is the first time that the government has used the 'Republic of Bharat' instead of India on an official invitation. The move, however, has stirred a huge controversy as leaders from Congress and other parties have strongly opposed it, while the ruling dispensation has welcomed the decision.
The leaders of the INDIA bloc have claimed that the BJP is nervous about the popularity being garnered by the opposition parties ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
On Tuesday, Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi said that the name Bharat was given by our ancestors.
While speaking to ANI, she said, "Our Constitution says that India is Bharat. This name (Bharat) was given by our ancestors. In 'Vishnupuran' it is written that the land in the north of the 'Samudra' and the south of the 'Himalayas' has the name Bharat."
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Sambit Patra shared a post on social media platform X on Tuesday that addressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as ‘The Prime Minister of Bharat’.
The picture shared on X pertains to Modi's participation in the 20th ASEAN-India Summit and the 18th EAS Summit in Indonesia on September 7.
Patra's post comes at a time when it is being widely speculated that the Centre is going to rename India Bharat during the upcoming special session by bringing legislation.
