What suddenly happened that India needs to be called only Bharat, asks Mamata

Kolkata: Asserting that it's well known that India is Bharat, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday questioned the need to "suddenly use only Bharat" while referring to India in official communique.

Alluding to the controversy over a G20 dinner invite in the name of 'President of Bharat', she said the world knows the country as India.

"I heard that India's name is being changed. The G20 invite that went out in the name of the honourable president has Bharat written on it. In English, we say India and the 'Indian Constitution; in Hindi, we say 'Bharat ka Samvidhan'. We all say 'Bharat', what is new in this? "There's nothing new to be done. The world knows us as India. What happened suddenly that the name of the country needs to be changed?" she asked, addressing a function on Teacher's day here.

"History is being rewritten in the country," she alleged.

The G20 Summit is being held in Delhi on September 9 and 10 under India's presidency and several heads of state from across the world, including US President Joe Biden, are attending the event. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan shared on X a G20 dinner invitation from President Murmu which described her position as "President of Bharat". TMC's ally, the Congress party on Tuesday too attacked the government over the G20 dinner invite referring to President Droupadi Murmu as "President of Bharat", accusing the government of being "scared" of the INDIA bloc and indulging in distraction from issues such as price rise and "rising joblessness".

Banerjee also attacked Governor CV Ananda Bose, alleging that he was holding back bills passed by the state assembly.

"The governor's actions are an attempt to paralyse state administration. He cannot hold back finance bills," she said.

"If need be, I will sit on dharna outside the Raj Bhavan," she said.

The chief minister also alleged that the governor was interfering in the functioning of schools, colleges and universities in the state.

"If the governor continues to interfere in the functioning of universities, we will block the funds," she said.

The governor, in his capacity as the chancellor of state-run universities, had on Sunday night appointed interim vice-chancellors for seven varsities, including the prestigious Presidency University, MAKAUT and the University of Burdwan.

Sources said the interim vice-chancellors of nine other universities have also been finalised and appointment letters "will be issued soon"