India-Bharat debate: Minister Jaishankar tells Opposition to 'read the Constitution'

A day after rumours started swirling that India may be renamed Bharat in the upcoming special session of Parliament, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar clarified his stand.

Many Opposition parties, who have formed an alliance called INDIA, have objected to 'Bharat' being added to the designation of the President and Prime Minister in formal communication.

In an interview to news agency ANI ahead of the G20 summit, Jaishankar said, "India that is Bharat - it is there in the Constitution. Please, I would invite everybody to read it."

"When you say Bharat, in a sense, a meaning and an understanding and a connotation that comes with it. And that is reflected in our Constitution as well," he added.

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

As no specific agenda has been announced yet for the Parliament session, speculations regarding its agenda ranging from simultaneous polls to women's reservation bill are doing the rounds.

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Several opposition leaders shared Article 1 of the Constitution which states that "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States" and also the provision that refers to the country's president as "President of India".

(With PTI inputs)