Idea of renaming India takes new leap? Modi named PM of 'Bharat' in ASEAN-India Summit notes

Earlier in the day, a massive controversy had erupted over the government's decision to send out G20 dinner invites from the 'President of Bharat'.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra on Tuesday night shared an official information regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Indonesia in which he has been referred to as the 'Prime Minister of Bharat'.

Modi will be leaving for Indonesia on Wednesday night to attend the 20th ASEAN-India Summit and the 18th East Asia Summit.

The reference to Modi as the 'Prime Minister of Bharat' comes close on the heels of a G20 invite for a dinner on September 9 in the name of the 'President of Bharat', which triggered a row as opposition parties alleged that the government is planning to drop India and stay with just Bharat as the country's name.

Customarily, in English, the country is referred as India.

Senior BJP leaders and ministers have cheered the move by the Rashtrapati Bhavan with Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar asking what is the problem with using 'President of Bharat' as the country is also Bharat.

The move also further fuelled the speculation that the issue of changing the name of the country could come up during the five-day special session of Parliament beginning September 18.

Opposition leaders, including Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, who first highlighted the development, accused the government of assaulting the idea of the country being a 'Union of States', as mentioned in the Constitution which describes the country as 'India, that is Bharat'.