India or Bharat? Panic reactions, distraction tactics, says Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Friday that the debate around the countrys name that erupted on social media following the G20 Summit invitations going out in the name of the President of Bharat are panic reactions and distraction tactics by the governmentGandhi also said such controversies seem to play out every time his party raises concerns of crony capitalismThe dinner invitation from President Droupadi Murmu to foreign leaders attending the G20 summit this weekend comes in the name of President of BharatIt triggered a war of words on social media with BJP leaders clashing with the Opposition and several celebrities and sports personalities also wading into the rowAddressing a media conference in Brussels the Congress MP claimed that the Opposition naming its alliance Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance INDIA has disturbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi enough that he wants a name change for the countryIm perfectly happy with the names that we have in our Constitution India that is Bharat works perfectly well for me he said when asked which name he prefersBut I think these in a sense to me are panic reactions Theres a little bit of fear in the government These are distraction tactics he saidWe of course came out with the name INDIA for our coalition and its a fantastic idea because it represents exactly who we are we consider ourselves to be the voice of India and so the word works very wellBut its obviously disturbed the Prime Minister enough that he wants to change the name of the country which is absurd but thats what it is Gandhi saidIts also interesting that every time we raise the issue of Mr Adani and crony capitalism the Prime Minister comes out with some dramatic new diversion tactic Its curious that just after I did a press conference on Adani this entire diversion was put into place Its interesting he addedGandhi on Thursday sought a Joint Parliamentary Committee JPC probe into reports that Adani family associates secretly invested hundreds of millions in the company through opaque investment funds based in MauritiusThe debate around the countrys name was one of several topics raised with Gandhi during his media interaction in Belgium the first stop on his European tour which next covers France followed by the Netherlands and NorwayGandhi said the idea behind the tour was to have an exchange of ideas on global issues with European parliamentarians interact with the Indian diaspora in these regions and also shed light on some of the challenges faced by India