‘What if INDIA alliance changes name to ‘Bharat’? Arvind Kejriwal hits out at Centre
New Delhi: The use of ‘President of Bharat’ in place of the traditional ‘President of India’ in the official invitation of foreign leaders attending the G-20 Summit has triggered a flurry of political reactions.
Opposition leaders have criticised the move and linked it to their 28-party alliance, named ‘India’. The BJP has questioned why some parties “object to every issue related to the honour and pride of the country”.
The sharpest reaction to the words used in the invitation came from Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, who asked if the ruling party would change the country’s name to ‘BJP’ if the opposition alliance decides to call itself ‘Bharat’.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Kejriwal said, “I have no official information that this (name change) is happening. Just because several opposition parties have formed an alliance and called it INDIA, will the Centre change the name of the country? The country belongs to 140 crore people, not to any one party. If the name of the alliance is changed to Bharat, will they change the name of India to BJP?”
Kejriwal said the BJP was so upset with the opposition alliance that when it was first announced, it tried to divert people’s attention from it with its ‘one nation, one election’ proposal.