What Suddenly Happened Necessitating India To Be Called Only Bharat, Asks Mamata

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".

Hitting out at Governor CV Ananda Bose, Banerjee on Tuesday alleged that he was holding back bills passed by the state assembly, and threatened that she would sit on dharna outside the Raj Bhavan if he continued to do so.

"The governor's actions are an attempt to paralyse the state administration. He is not returning a single bill passed by the assembly. There is a provision that if a bill is sent to him he has to return it. If a bill is returned twice, it becomes an act. He is not returning a single bill," she said.

"If federalism is interfered with by taking away rights (of the state governments), I will be forced to sit on dharna outside the Raj Bhavan. We will not allow injustice, Bengal knows how to fight back. Wait and watch," she said, adding that the government will take legal steps.

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

"The state frames all policy. If you interfere, I will block funds to all those universities and colleges which follow your directions. I will see how you will give salaries to the vice-chancellors (appointed by the Governor)," she said, promising a "tit for tat" action.

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".

Noting that the vice-chancellors should be picked from the names suggested by a five-member search committee, Banerjee said, "The governor is appointing persons at his will with no regard to the suggestions. He appointed a BJP man as the vice-chancellor of Jadavpur University at midnight. He made an IPS officer of Kerala cadre the vice-chancellor of a sensitive university such as Aliah. He recruited a person with no academic experience as the VC of Rabindra Bharati University."

Claiming that it was a conspiracy aimed at a collapse of the system, she said, "We will not allow this to continue. If the governor thinks he is bigger than the chief minister, we will fight him back. He should not forget that he is nominated to that post."

-With PTI Input