GEIS-新闻详情

PM Modi asks Council of Ministers to refrain from India vs Bharat debate

2023-09-09 00:00:00.0 铸币报-政治原网页

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a Union Council of Ministers meeting on Wednesday in preparation for the upcoming G20 Summit scheduled for September 9 and 10 in the national capital and asked the council to avoid getting into a debate on India vs Bharat, which has triggered a political controversy in the political circles.

PM Narendra Modi has asked his Union Council of Ministers to refrain from getting into the debate on the possibilities of a name change for India. The controversy erupted after a G20 dinner invite sent out by President Droupadi Murmu referred to her as the ‘President of Bharat’ instead of the ‘President of India’, setting off a debate that a renaming could be part of the agenda in the upcoming Special Session of Parliament.

While Union Minister Anurag Thakur has called it a “rumour", while attacking the “mindset" of the Opposition for opposing the name ‘Bharat’, there has been no other word.

“The ministers were told that they need to assertively face falsehoods and attacks against issues of faith, to put things in the right context and to rely on the provisions of the Constitution that do not allow denigration of any religion," persons privy to the matter said.

He also instructed his ministers that "no minister other than the authorized person should speak on the G-20 meeting."

“In the Council of Ministers meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave advice to his ministers, saying that no minister other than the authorised person should speak at the G-20 meeting. The ministers attending the dinner organized on September 9 should reach the Parliament House complex in their own vehicles and to reach the venue they should board the buses," sources said.

India is all set to host the G20 Summit in New Delhi from September 9-10. World leaders will arrive in New Delhi to attend the G20 Summit. The summit will be hosted at the state-of-the-art Bharat Mandapam Convention Centre at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.

Notably, India assumed the G20 presidency on December 1 last year and about 200 meetings related to G20 were organized in 60 cities across the country.

(With agency inputs)