Rahul Gandhi’s Amusing Take On India-Bharat Name Change Row

New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi, a Congress Member of Parliament, took a playful jab at the government on Sunday amid speculation about a potential name change for the country to “Bharat.” While attending an event in France, he was questioned about the significance of such a change. In a video shared on X (formerly Twitter) by the Congress, Mr. Gandhi appeared to downplay the discussion of the name change, referring to both “India” and “Bharat” as “perfectly acceptable.”

He remarked, “Well… the Constitution actually uses both names, right? The line in the Constitution, which I began with, is ‘India, that is, Bharat, shall be a Union of States.’ So, I don’t really see a problem… both are perfectly acceptable.”

Mr. Gandhi paused briefly and continued with a smile, “But, I think, maybe we irritated the government a little because we named our coalition INDIA, and that got them all heated up. And now they’ve decided to change the name of the country.”

He added, “I mean, you know how these things are… I mean, we could always give our coalition a second name as well… (but) I don’t think it will serve the purpose. But people act in strange ways!”

The opposition leader then turned the question back to the audience, asking, “What do you think about it?”

In a graphic shared by the Congress, Mr. Gandhi, speaking at Sciences PO University in Paris, also emphasized, “The most important thing is that the voice of all people included in these states is heard loud and clear, and no voice is crushed or intimidated.”

The India-Bharat Controversy

Controversy arose when invitations to G20 leaders referred to President Droupadi Murmu as ‘President of Bharat’ instead of India. ‘Bharat’ and references to it as the “mother of democracy” were also used in other promotional materials for the summit.

This change sparked strong opposition, especially since it occurred shortly after INDIA – an opposition alliance gaining momentum ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in a few months – announced its intention to contest polls “together as far as possible.”

INDIA members accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “distorting history and dividing India.”

Some INDIA members also mocked the government; Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked if the Bharatiya Janata Party would change its name to ‘BJP’ if INDIA renamed itself BHARAT.

Mr. Gandhi took a subtle swipe at this as well, reminding the BJP, which has built its electoral success on a nationalist platform, that “the fight is between NDA (the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance) and INDIA… You know who wins when you stand against India.”

“Not INDIA, Call Them…”: PM Modi

The opposition alliance’s decision to call itself INDIA – which stands for the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance – appeared to irk even the Prime Minister, who, in the previous month, referred to them as “Ghamandiya,” the Hindi word for ‘arrogant,’ and accused the Congress of changing its name “to hide how they schemed against the poor.”

Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma had a name change suggestion too, directed at Rahul Gandhi. Accusing him of “working to break the country,” the Assam Chief Minister urged him to “relinquish the Gandhi title.”