Modi’s place card to officials’ badges — ‘Bharat’ features prominently at G20, but India also present

This comes amid a debate over the use of the title 'President of Bharat' in an invitation sent out last week for a banquet to be hosted by Droupadi Murmu for G20 dignitaries.

A screenshot of PM Modi's place card during his inaugural address, which read 'Bharat' in English.

New Delhi: From Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s place card during his inaugural address at the G20 Leaders’ Summit at Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam (Pragati Maidan) Saturday, to badges of officials stationed at the event, the word “Bharat” featured prominently at the mega diplomatic event being hosted in the Indian capital this weekend.

This comes amid a  debate which erupted over the use of the title “President of Bharat” instead of “President of India” in an invitation sent out by Rashtrapati Bhavan last week for a banquet to be hosted by President Droupadi Murmu Saturday for G20 dignitaries.

Traditionally, invitations issued by Indian constitutional bodies have always referred to the country as “India” when the text is in English, and “Bharat” when the text is in Hindi.

Critics interpreted the use of “Bharat” in the president’s invites as an indication that the Modi government was pushing for the name of the country to be officially changed.

Many also saw it as reaction of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government to the name of the opposition alliance for the 2024 elections, INDIA.

However, an opinion piece written by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his website this week, on India’s G20 presidency refers to the country as India.

Article 52 of the Indian Constitution declares: “There shall be a President of India” while Article 1 has the word “Bharat” in the first sentence — “India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.”

ThePrint brings some glimpses of the “Bharat” vs “India” tags at the G20 venue.

Large placards and displays of the G20 Summit featured ‘Bharat’ in Hindi script, as well as ‘India’ in English. Bharat was mentioned first. | Photo: Pia Krishnakutty | ThePrint

Large G20 India signs which mention ‘Bharat’ in Hindi in smaller text below| Photo: Pia Krishnakutty | ThePrint

Badges of officials at the G20 Summit which read ‘Bharat Official’ instead of ‘India Official’ | Photo: Pia Krishnakutty | ThePrint

Signs placed in front of certain halls at the venue informed only ‘Bharat Officials’ had access | Photo: Pia Krishnakutty | ThePrint

Some art installations at the event, however, read ‘Welcome to India’ with no mention of ‘Bharat’ | Photo: Pia Krishnakutty | ThePrint

A slide on the visual display that talked about the Constitution did not mention ‘Bharat’ | Photo: Pia Krishnakutty | ThePrint

A slide on a visual display on elections in India featured a sentence, ‘In Bharat, that is India…’ | Photo: Pia Krishnakutty | ThePrint

Booklets provided by the G20 Secretariat at the venue was titled ‘Bharat: Mother of Democracy’ | Photo: Pia Krishnakutty | ThePrint