Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India] September 6 (ANI): After several political parties waded into the row erupted over the Rashtrapati Bhawan sending out invites for a G20 dinner on September 9 in the name of ‘President of Bharat’ instead of the usual ‘President of India’, Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi National President Prakash Ambedkar on Wednesday said that the Opposition could have ignored the issue instead of raising the issue “unnecessarily”. Speaking to ANI, Ambedkar said that constitutionally, there is nothing wrong with using Bharat instead of India.
“Article 1 of the Constitution says that India that is Bharat–means India is also there and Bharat is also there. So this is foolishness on the part of the Opposition party to raise the issue when the Constitution itself has accepted both India and Bharat. Constitutionally, there is no wrong in it. They (Opposition) should have ignored this issue,” Ambedkar said.
He further that it only depends on the government in power whether to use India or Bharat. The row erupted over the issue of ‘India and Bharat’ with the members of the Opposition INDIA bloc – from the Congress to TMC, DMK to AAP – alleging it was an attempt by the “rattled” BJP to “divide people and later linked to the formation of their alliance.
Notably, this is the first time that the government has used the ‘Republic of Bharat’ instead of India on an official invitation. A government booklet on PM Modi’s upcoming visit to Indonesia for the ASEAN-India Summit also refers to him as the Prime Minister of Bharat. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh made a series of posts on the issue on Tuesday. “So the news is indeed true. Rashtrapati Bhawan has sent out an invite for a G20 dinner on September 9th in the name of ‘President of Bharat’ instead of the usual ‘President of India’. Now, Article 1 in the Constitution can read: “Bharat, that was India, shall be a Union of States.” But now even this “Union of States” is under assault,” he said in a post on ‘X’, formerly known as Twitter.
The Congress leader accused the Modi government of trying to distort history and said ‘BHARAT” is the objective of INDIA parties. “It is BHARAT—Bring Harmony, Amity, Reconciliation And Trust. Judega BHARAT Jeetega INDIA!,” Jairam Ramesh said.
Further, speaking on the Maratha reservation stir, Prakash Ambedkar said, “It is related to the year 1920 when Baba Saheb (Bhim Rao Ambedkar) himself had said that Maratha should get a reservation when he submitted a memorandum to Simon Commission. Now, there are two groups in Maratha out of which one wants reservation while another does not want. Now, the class of poor Maratha has increased a lot, therefore they have become more vocal about it and asking for a reservation.” (ANI)
