What suddenly happened that India needs to be called only Bharat, asks Mamata

Kolkata: Asserting that India is Bharat, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday questioned what suddenly happened that the country should be called only Bharat.

Referring to the controversy over a G20 dinner invite in the name of ‘President of Bharat’, she said the world knows the country as India.

“I heard that India’s name is being changed. The G20 invite that went out in the name of the honourable president has Bharat written on it. We call the country Bharat, what is new in this? In English, we say India... There’s nothing new to be done. The world knows us as India. What happened suddenly that the name of the country needs to be changed?” Banerjee asked, addressing a programme on the occasion of Teachers’ Day.

She accused the Centre of changing the names of universities and historical monuments in a blatant attempt to distort the history of the country. “History is being rewritten in the country,” she added.

The G20 Summit is being held in Delhi on September 9 and 10 under India’s presidency and several heads of state from across the world, including US President Joe Biden, are attending the event.

Banerjee also attacked Governor C V Ananda Bose, alleging that he was holding back Bills passed by the state Assembly.

“The Governor’s actions are an attempt to paralyse state administration. He cannot hold back finance bills,” she said.

“If need be, I will sit on dharna outside the Raj Bhavan,” she said.

The Chief Minister also alleged that the Governor was interfering in the functioning of schools, colleges and universities in Bengal.

“If the Governor continues to interfere in the functioning of universities, we will block the funds,” she said. Meanwhile, reacting to the invite, Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee expressed his doubt about whether the dignity of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha will be intact and appealed to Speakers across the country to come together and deliberate on the matter.

“If you read the Indian Constitution, you will find that ‘Bharat – that is India’ is written which means we are known to the world by the name India. I do not know why the name of ‘Bharat’ is suddenly cropping up. We do not know the intention of this. But we are alarmed at how changes are being made. We doubt whether the dignity of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will remain intact,” Banerjee said.

He advocated for Speakers across the country to come together and deliberate on the issue and find out whether the democratic significance of the Parliament is being maintained.