Controversy Over India's Presumed Name Change To Bharat

 There is a new controversy over the new nomenclature for India as President Droupadi Murmu's G20 dinner invitation has sparked name-change row.

The Indian leader while inviting G20 leaders to the group's summit on Saturday referred to herself as the "President of Bharat" as against the "President of India" expected of her.

This has fueled insinuations of the country's name change.

President Murmu will be hosting a reception for G20 leaders during the group's summit on Saturday, with invitations were sent from her office indicating Bharat instead of India.

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It should be noted that India is also called Bharat, and Bharata, Hindustan, its pre-colonial names and they have been used interchangeably by the public and officially.

But over the years, the nomenclatureels of the country's offices are either President of India, Prime Minister of India and Chief Justice of India in English communication.

The country's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and his nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has over the years been changing colonial names to, what it says, help India move past a mentality of slavery.

Some school of thought opined that British colonial rulers had coined the name India to overshadow Bharat and forge a British legacy.

"Our country's name is Bharat and there should be no doubt about it," Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a federal deputy minister said.

According to Hindu groups linked to BJP, the G20 summit offers the best opportunity to shed India's colonial baggage.

But India's pposition leaders are critical of the change, with some averring that it will eclipse their two-month-old political alliance which is also called "INDIA".

"We all say 'Bharat', what is new in this? But the name 'India' is known to the world...What happened suddenly that the government had to change the name of the country?" asked Mamata Banerjee, a top opposition leader.