"Just Rumours": Govt On Reports Of Renaming India As Bharat

Amid massive furore over President Draupadi Murmu describing her position as 'President of Bharat', Union minister Anurag Thakur has now refuted the rumours that the special session of the House has been convened to consider a name change from India to Bharat.

Speaking to Indian Express, the Union Minister clarified, "I think these are just rumours which are taking place. All I want to say is that anyone who objects to the word Bharat clearly shows the mindset."

The Congress on Tuesday claimed that the Rashtrapati Bhavan had sent out an invite for a G20 dinner which had 'President of Bharat' inscribed on it.

Responding to the reports of the President's dinner invitation, he said the President is "Bharat ke Rashtrapati... toh unhone likh diya (so she wrote) President of Bharat. So what?"

"I am a Minister in the Bharat Sarkar. There is nothing new in it. G20-2023 (branding, logo) will have both Bharat and India written. So why this objection to the name Bharat? Why does anyone have an objection to Bharat? This shows their mentality, that in their hearts they are against India or Bharat. When they go overseas, they criticise Bharat. When they are in India, they have objection to the name of Bharat," he stated.

He added, "Who has dropped it? (the word India)... Nobody has dropped it. Even if you look at the G20 branding... it is India 2023 and Bharat. Why should anyone even speculate or object to Bharat being written like that? This branding has been done for the last one year."

Dinner invitations sent out by the Rashtrapati Bhawan to delegates and dignitaries attending the G20 Summit were in the name of President of Bharat, which triggered a political storm with the opposition alleging that the government was planning to drop the name India and stay with Bharat as the country's name.

Earlier on Tuesday, Thakur slammed the Opposition parties which targeted the Centre over the reported which claimed that India was being renamed as Bharat. "Who is opposing the name Bharat? Now have you even started feeling the pain at the mention of Bharat? These are the same people who put party before the nation and are stuck in the quicksand of politics. They also have attempted to malign the country from foreign soil," PTI quoted Thakur as saying.

He said it was the opposition parties who had stopped calling their coalition as UPA due to allegations of corruption during their 10 year rule.

"But they forget, even if they shed their name UPA, the faces, character and behaviour is the same. Just by changing your name from UPA does not change your deeds. The entire country is watching this coalition of corrupt, the 'Ghamandiya' alliance that is full of arrogance," he added.