Trinamul Congress Warns Leaders Against Overreacting to Name Change Speculation

The Trinamul Congress' top brass warned leaders against overreacting to the possibility of changing the nation's official name to Bharat on Wednesday before accusing the Narendra Modi administration of using the topic to divert attention away from pressing problems like inflation and unemployment.

Abhishek Banerjee, national general secretary of Trinamul, used his official X (formerly Twitter) profile on Wednesday afternoon to communicate the party's position on the matter.

"INDIA vs. BHARAT is only a BJP-planned diversion. Let's go right to the point and hold the government responsible for increasing prices, unchecked inflation, racial tensions, joblessness, border problems, and their hollow rhetoric of nationalism and the double engine. Abhishek used the hashtag "#Stayfocused" on his social media account.

According to a source, senior Trinamul leaders had started encouraging the party's officials to minimize the alleged plan to transform "India" into "Bharat" and remain focused on those important concerns that the Narendra Modi administration intended to sweep under the rug even before Abhishek's tweet surfaced on social media.

"It has been requested that we minimize the India-Bharat dispute and emphasize the pertinent topics as much as we can. The party thinks that concentrating on the country's name change will benefit the saffron movement in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. A Trinamul representative in Calcutta said that the BJP has already begun to argue that Trinamul has an issue even with the name Bharat.

According to a Trinamul insider, despite the party's initial decision to proceed cautiously with the name change, news of political programs being launched on the issue began to surface from various sources in response to the chief minister Mamata Banerjee's remarks on Tuesday.

Mamata, a prominent figure in the anti-BJP coalition known as the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), voiced her discontent with the matter on Tuesday and questioned the timing and motivation behind the rumored effort to rename the nation.

The INDIA constituents said that the BJP's alleged intention to rename the nation was motivated by fear of the bloc.

Trinamul officials in several districts started making arrangements to conduct rallies in their regions to criticize the BJP as soon as Mamata voiced her concerns.

Asit Majumdar, a Trinamul MLA in Hooghly, organized a similar gathering under his leadership. Workers from Trinamul marched across the town carrying banners and placards.

Since Jawaharlal Nehru's time, the phrase "Mera Bharat Mahan" has been used as a campaign slogan. India, not Bharat, is the name of so many organizations, including the Reserve Bank. So, we went to the streets to inform people that deleting India from the name would not be necessary, according to Majumdar.

According to a top Trinamul leader, there was no need to spend time on such a pointless matter, which is why Abhishek had conveyed a clear message.