Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday challenged the Centre to dare change the name of India, amid a row over an alleged move to rename ‘India’ as ‘Bharat’.
“Does India belong to your father? It belongs to 140 crore people. India lives in our hearts, Bharat lives in our hearts, Hindustan lives in our hearts,” Arvind Kejriwal said, addressing a rally in poll-bound Chhattisgarh.
He further said that the BJP government ran various central projects under the name India until last year, but is now demanding for the country’s name to be changed following the formation of the Opposition coalition INDIA.
“I would like to challenge the BJP that they dare change the name of India,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said.
The controversy began after the G20 dinner invites mentioned ‘President of Bharat’ instead of ‘President of India’. Kejriwal alleged that the BJP was trying to change the country’s name to ‘Bharat’ because they were afraid that the opposition alliance might lose some votes if it was called ‘India’.
Arvind Kejriwal’s remark comes amid anticipation that the administration will introduce a resolution to rename India ‘Bharat’ during the upcoming extraordinary session of Parliament. Opposition parties have criticised the supposed effort to rename India.
The AAP chief said on Saturday that 28 opposition parties from across the country had formed an alliance called INDIA.
“The BJP government was so angry that they said they will change the nation’s name to Bharat…If tomorrow, the Opposition alliance calls itself Bharat, will you (BJP) change the country’s name again?” Arvind Kejriwal questioned.
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