India-Bharat debate not part of BJP agenda, but people believe India name given by British, says Vijayvargiya

Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Saturday said his party had nothing to do with the India versus Bharat debate but added that many people believe India was a name given by the British.

Indore: Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Saturday said his party had nothing to do with the India versus Bharat debate but added that many people believe India was a name given by the British.

Asked about the debate on the country’s name, he said it is neither part of the BJP’s agenda, nor did he know how it all started.

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“But, many people are of the opinion that India is a name given by the British so the country should be addressed as Bharat. Even a verse in the Puranas refers to the country as Bharat,” he said.

Queried about whether the BJP was fighting the upcoming Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said the slogan used to be ‘bachcha bachcha Atal Bihari’ when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was prime minister.

“Now Modi is our tallest leader, so the name of the leader definitely comes (into the campaign),” he said.

Vijayvargiya said some BJP leaders joining the Congress ahead of polls will not make a difference to the ruling party.

“The BJP is a worker-based party. When some people’s personal ambitions overpower the party ideology, such people leave the party. Such people are not even worthy of being in our party,” he said.

Vijayvargiya also said he had told the party leadership he was not keen to contest polls as he wants to give a chance to new faces.

“But I am a soldier of the BJP. If it asks me to stand in the front, I will not step back,” he said.

On alleged misbehaviour with journalists at a programme of MP Congress chief Kamal Nath in Indore during the day, Vijayvargiya said the former’s behaviour reminded one of the Emergency and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Eyewitnesses claimed Nath was enraged by media camerapersons standing in front of the stage at a programme of the Mang-Matang community and sternly asked them to leave the venue.

Various journalists’ organisations have also condemned Nath’s alleged behaviour.