I.N.D.I.A bloc making BJP nervous, 'India-Bharat' issue being raised to mislead people: Kharge

Why should anyone object to Bharat, questions Anurag 

EOI, BHILWARA/ NEW DELHI, SEPT 6, 2023 : Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said the alliance of like-minded Opposition parties named INDIA has worried the BJP which is now trying to drop India and keep only Bharat as the country's name. 

"The Constitution states India means Bharat. Do you have any objection to these two words? We are saying 'Bharat Jodo' but you are trying to bring something new...whenever we talk about something, they either try to defame it or mislead people," Kharge said addressing a farmers' rally in Bhilwara in poll-bound Rajasthan. 

The Congress president alleged that the central government has harassed and looted the poor. He said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi covered 4,500 km from Kanyakumari to Kashmir in the Bharat Jodo Yatra and spread the message of "Bharat Jodo" (unite India). "We say Bharat Jodo, they say Bharat Todo," the Congress president said, adding: "They are getting nervous over INDIA (alliance)." 

Kharge said that the Narendra Modi government does not allow anyone to rise and takes pleasure in erasing what the Congress had done earlier. "Whatever things we did have been stopped. 

They neither have a plan nor the courage to work for the poor...They will not do anything and will just go on abusing the Congress," he said. Kharge said the Congress never lies and its every effort has been to strengthen people, whereas the BJP uses RSS and raises Hindu-Muslim issues. 

He said the farmers' movement against the now-repealed farm laws went on for months and 750 farmers died during the agitation but the Prime Minister did not even look at them. Targeting Prime Minister Modi, Kharge said: "He used to say that 'I will double the income of farmers' but he looted people (through high prices of) diesel, petrol, LPG, everything. He has harassed and ruined the poor. He issued directions and the finance department kept on looting people." 

Kharge said that the Prime Minister made multiple trips to Karnataka during the Assembly elections and waved from his vehicle but people did not give vote to BJP. Meanwhile, amid massive furore over President Droupadi Murmu describing her position as 'President of Bharat', Union minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday wondered why the opposition parties were opposed to the nomenclature. 

"It is no big deal. Earlier too you have seen several invites being sent out in the name of Bharat Sarkar. Where is the problem," he countered when asked about the opposition seeing red over the move. 

"I am a minister of Bharat Sarkar, many news channels also have Bharat in their name. Why should anyone object to Bharat, who are these people who are allergic to the name Bharat," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.