Today in Politics: Amid India-Bharat name row, PM Narendra Modi leaves for Indonesia for ASEAN Summit

Indonesia is hosting the summits in its capacity as the current Chair of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), which is considered one of the most influential groupings in the region. India and several other countries, including the US, China, Japan and Australia, are its dialogue partners.

Boosting India’s trade and security ties with the ASEAN is likely to be the focus of PM Modi’s engagement with leaders of the bloc. As the G20 Summit, scheduled to be held in New Delhi during September 9-10, follows shortly after the ASEAN summit, it will be a short visit by the PM to Indonesia.

A government booklet on the PM’s visit to Indonesia referred to Narendra Modi as the “Prime Minister of Bharat”.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra on Tuesday night also shared a document regarding PM Modi’s visit to Jakarta in which he has been referred to as the “Prime Minister of Bharat”.

Earlier in the day, a political row erupted over the name of the country after the government sent out a G20 Summit dinner invitation in the name of the “President of Bharat”, and not the President of India, 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”, “distort history” and linked to the formation of their alliance.

“So the news is indeed true. Rashtrapati Bhawan has sent out an invite for a G20 dinner on Sept 9th in the name of ‘President of Bharat’ instead of the usual ‘President of India’,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X Tuesday. “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.”

Later, the Congress also alleged that the government was “confused”. “Look at how confused the Modi government is! The Prime Minister of Bharat at the 20th ASEAN-India summit,” Ramesh said. “All this drama just because the Opposition got together and called itself INDIA.”

Rejecting as “rumours” the speculation, especially in the Opposition camp, that the special session of Parliament had been called during September 18-22 to effect a name change from India to Bharat, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Arunag Thakur told The Indian Express, “I think these are just rumours which are taking place. All I want to say is that anyone who objects to the word Bharat clearly shows the mindset.”

On the President’s dinner invitation, Thakur said the President is “Bharat ke Rashtrapati… toh unhone likh diya (so she wrote) President of Bharat. So what?…” Divya A reported.

“I am a Minister in the Bharat Sarkar. There is nothing new in it. G20-2023 (branding, logo) will have both Bharat and India written. So why this objection to the name Bharat? Why does anyone have an objection to Bharat? This shows their mentality, that in their hearts they are against India or Bharat. When they go overseas, they criticise Bharat. When they are in India, they have objection to the name of Bharat,” he said.

“Who has dropped it? (the word India)… Nobody has dropped it. Even if you look at the G20 branding… it is India 2023 and Bharat. Why should anyone even speculate or object to Bharat being written like that? This branding has been done for the last one year,” Thakur said.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court is set to give its ruling on the National Conference (NC)’s plea challenging the denial of the party’s symbol, plough, to its candidates by the Ladakh Union Territory (UT) administration for the September 10 Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC)-Kargil elections.

The Farooq Abdullah-led NC is anxiously waiting for the apex court’s verdict, which will determine the party’s move to officially file nominations for its candidates in the Kargil hill council polls, Naveed Iqbal reported.

Reserving its judgment on the matter on September 1, an apex court bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah said their judgment will be pronounced on September 6. Earlier, the bench had termed as “unfair” the UT administration’s move not to grant the plough symbol to the party for the Kargil body elections despite the high court’s order.

In its argument against reserving the plough symbol for the NC, the Ladakh administration says that no state party, including the NC, is a recognised party in Ladakh, and that the NC could therefore not claim its symbol in the UT.

On its part, the NC however says that as the incumbent in Kargil’s hill development council it wants to contest elections on the symbol that was previously allotted to and reserved for the party.

In Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh, the state BJP’s minority morcha is holding its conference to deliberate on its outreach to the minorities in the poll-bound state. The event being held in Raipur will be attended by the national president of the saffron party’s minority wing, Jamal Siddiqui, and other senior central and state minority leaders.

(With PTI inputs)