India was referred to as Bharat before the G20 Summit dinner invite; here’s what happened

Days before the much-anticipated G20 Summit in Delhi is scheduled to begin, the dinner invite mentioning ‘President of Bharat’ sparked widespread controversy. Moreover, reports stated that India is expected to be officially renamed ‘Bharat’ in the upcoming special session of the Parliament. 

Following the G20 dinner invites, the function notes for PM Modi’s visit to Indonesia for the 20th Asean India Summit and 18th East Asia Summit (EAS) on September 6-7 added fuel to the fire by referring to him as the ‘Prime Minister of Bharat’. PM Modi has been invited by President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo to attend the summit in Jakarta. 

However, this is not the first usage of Bharat in an official communique. The term has earlier been used in an official document. 

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the 15th BRICS Summit in South Africa and then went on an official visit to Greece thereafter in August, the government notification for the visits referred to him as the ‘Prime Minister of Bharat’. 

The Opposition has now accused the PM Modi-led government of planning to drop the name ‘India’ entirely and use ‘Bharat’. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said that he hopes the name India is not dropped. “While there is no constitutional objection to calling India “Bharat”, which is one of the country’s two official names, I hope the government will not be so foolish as to completely dispense with “India”, which has incalculable brand value built up over centuries. We should continue to use both words rather than relinquish our claim to a name redolent of history, a name that is recognised around the world,” he posted on X, formerly Twitter. 

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also questioned if the INDIA alliance changes its name to Bharat, will the central government change the name of the country again. “These people are so upset with the INDIA alliance that they will even change the name of the country? If tomorrow we name our alliance “Bharat”, will we change the name “Bharat” as well?” asked Kejriwal in Hindi.

It must be mentioned here that the Constitution refers to the country as "India, that is Bharat". 

Also read: 'India has incalculable brand value': Shashi Tharoor on buzz that Centre may rename country as Bharat

Also read: 'If we name alliance Bharat, will they call our country BJP': Arvind Kejriwal slams Centre amid plans to rename India to Bharat

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