‘President of Bharat’ on G20 dinner invite reignites row, Congress hits out

Launching a fresh attack on the Centre, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh claimed that invites to a G20 summit dinner hosted at the Rashtrapati Bhawan had ‘President of Bharat’ inscribed on them instead of the customary ‘President of India’.

“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’ (sic),” Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

In a swipe at the BJP-led Union government, the Congress leader went on, “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.”

Article 1 of the Indian Constitution reads: “India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.”

While Jairam Ramesh was up in arms over the use of ‘President of Bharat’ on invitation cards issued by the government, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma went one step further and proclaimed India as “Republic of Bharat”.

“Republic of Bharat- happy and proud that our civilisation is marching ahead boldly towards Amrit Kaal,” Himanta Biswa Sarma said in a post on X that came minutes after the Congress leader’s.