Bhubaneswar: The push to drop India and keep only Bharat as the country’s name should not be politicised, and everyone should support it, senior BJD MLA Amar Prasad Satpathy said Wednesday.
His remarks came after invitations for a G20 dinner sent out by President Droupadi Murmu, describing her position as ‘President of Bharat’ instead of the customary ‘President of India’, triggered a massive furore Tuesday with the opposition alleging that the Narendra Modi government is planning to drop India and stay with just Bharat as the country’s name.
“Many things change with time. The name of many places has been changed over the years. Orissa has been changed to Odisha. Names of Bangalore and Madras have also been changed,” Satpathy said.
“Even a Congress member had brought a private member’s bill to rename India as Bharat as it is being discussed for a long time,” he said.
The senior leader said there should be a consensus on the issue.
“There should not be any politics over the name of the country. Everything should not be seen in a political way, certain issues are non-political. This should be considered from a national perspective,” he said.
Earlier, senior BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab said the country should officially be called only Bharat, and the name India should be permanently removed from Constitution.
The six-time MP from Cuttack had introduced two private members’ bills in 2015 and 2019 to remove ‘India’ from Constitution.
The last bill is still under consideration, he said.
“I firmly believe that our country should be referred to as Bharat, which is a meaningful word. India has no such meaning,” Mahtab said.
PTI