The Congress party has hit out at Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma over the latter’s criticism of the freshly-coined name of the Opposition alliance in Bengaluru on Tuesday. At the meeting of 26 Opposition parties in Bengaluru, it was decided that the grouping will call itself INDIA, short for Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.
In a dig at the rechristened Opposition, Sarma pointed out that it was the British who had named the country India.
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“Our civilisational conflict is pivoted around India and Bharat.The British named our country as India. We must strive to free ourselves from colonial legacies. Our forefathers fought for Bharat, and we will continue to work for Bharat,” he tweeted.
Hitting back at the Assam Chief Minister, Congress accused the BJP leader of hypocrisy. Taking to twitter, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said Sarma should tell this to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who gave names such as ‘Skill India’, ‘Start-up India’ and ‘Digital India’ for programmes in the country.
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“But when 26 political parties call their formation INDIA (Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance), he throws a fit and says the use of India reflects ‘colonial mentality’! He should tell that to his Boss,” he said.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also launched an attack on Sarma and tweeted: “Himanta, find a better tweet writer. This one makes you appear foolish. Your fight seems to begin with your geolocation on your twitter bio ??”.
Earlier in the day, the Opposition alliance chose ‘Jeetega Bharat’ as their tagline for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections.
