Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal sought to mock the Bharatiya Janata Party amid the buzz over a Rashtrapati Bhavan dinner invite to G20 leaders and chief ministers, referring to the President of India, as has been the regular practice, as “President of Bharat”.

Taking potshots at the BJP whose leaders have demanded that the India nomenclature be officially dropped altogether, Kejriwal claimed that the development was because a group of Opposition parties decided to call themselves as INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance).

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“What will they do if INDIA alliance leaders decide to change their name? Suppose parties under the INDIA alliance hold a meeting and decide to name themselves as Bharat, will they change the name of the country from Bharat to BJP then? Is this a joke?” quipped Kejriwal.

Kejriwal said that the country belongs to 140 crore Indians and not to a party and claimed that the change being mooted by the BJP is because it believes that the Opposition naming itself as INDIA could dent its votes tally.

The Delhi CM’s remark comes amid an uproar by the Opposition after the President’s dinner invitation dropped the word “India” and used Bharat instead. The Congress, which saw it as a move borne out of fear of the INDIA alliance of the Opposition, wondered whether it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hatred toward the Opposition or the “whim of a scared dictator”.

Also Read: Lok Sabha election: Opposition alliance INDIA gets a new tagline with a ‘Bharat’ touch

“Modi ji is having trouble with the name ‘India’, now he is changing its name to ‘Bharat’. Today the whole world is laughing at you. You hate us and our ideology, no problem. But don’t hate India, don’t hate Indians,” said Congress leader Pawan Khera.

The suggested development also came in for harsh criticism from Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin who said that contrary to the promise of transformation, all that the nation gained is a name change.

“After Non-BJP forces united to dethrone the fascist BJP regime and aptly named their alliance INDIA, now the BJP wants to change ‘India’ for ‘Bharat….BJP promised to TRANSFORM India, but all we got is a name change after 9 years!” Stalin tweeted.

Officials cited by media reports have claimed that this is the first instance of the official use of the Bharat nomenclature for the President. Invitation letters sent to G20 leaders and chief ministers by President Droupadi Murmu referred to her as “President of Bharat” instaead of President of India as is normal practice.