RIAU24.COM – Efforts by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to change India’s name have drawn criticism, particularly from the opposition.

This initiative, supported by many politicians from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), now in power in India, is seen as an attempt by the government to divert people’s attention from the country’s important problems.

As reported by The Economic Times, Thursday (7/9/2023), plans to change India’s official name were revealed after the invitation to the G20 summit state dinner sent this week by Indian President Droupadi Murmu declared his position as “President of Bharat”. , not “President of India”.

The Economic Times report said that the Modi government will present a resolution to change India’s official name to ‘Bharat’ in a special parliamentary session from September 18-22.

It is also known that the debate over changing India’s official name arose after the BJP attacked the newly formed opposition bloc called INDIA, short for Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.

BJP politicians repeatedly say that the name “India” is a relic of the colonial past.

The attempt to change India’s official name, according to The Economic Times, is a provocation against the opposition bloc.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national president Arvind Kejriwal, who is also the chief minister of New Delhi, has openly criticized efforts to change India’s official name.

“Will BJP replace ‘Bharat’ with another name, if INDIA alliance changes its name to Bharat? If multi-party alliance becomes ‘India’, will they change the name of the country? This country belongs to 1.4 billion people, not just one party,” Kejriwal was firm in his criticism.

“Suppose if the ‘Indian’ alliance changes the name to ‘Bharat’, will it rename Bharat to BJP? What kind of joke is this? The BJP thinks its vote share will decline, so it should rename it Bharat,” he joked.* * *