New Delhi: During his inaugural address of the G20 leaders’ summit on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s country sign read ‘Bharat’ and not ‘India’, reviving the debate over a possible name change.
During his speech, the Prime Minister announced, among other things, the African Union as a permanent member of the Group of Twenty top world economies.
Modi, who kicked off the two-day G20 leaders’ summit in New Delhi, described India’s G20 chairmanship as a symbol of inclusivity.
Earlier, the invitations issued by the government to the G20 leaders for the presidential banquet referred to Droupadi Murmu as ‘President of Bharat’.
The controversy escalated when Narendra Modi was referred to as ‘Prime Minister of Bharat’ in a central government booklet on the Prime Minister’s visit to Indonesia for the ASEAN-India Summit.
The Sanskrit and Hindi name for India is Bharat.
Opposition leaders have criticized the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government for the act. The Indian National Congress (INC) has said that the BJP government was trying to create a divide between ‘India’ and ‘Bharat’.
Meanwhile, BJP leaders have tried to play down the issue.
“All I want to say is that anyone who objects to the word Bharat is clearly demonstrating that mentality,” Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting and Youth & Sports Anurag Thakur said recently.
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Updated: Sep 9, 2023 3:16 PM IST