Kerala CM misleading people: State BJP leader MT Ramesh on ‘India’ vs ‘Bharat’ row

The BJP leader also said many national leaders in the past have also used 'Bharat' instead of India

Thiruvananthapuram: Slamming Kerala Chief Minister Pinaravi Vijayan for “misleading people,” BJP’s state General Secretary, MT Ramesh on Thursday said, “Constitution allows us to use India as well as Bharat.”

The BJP leader also said many national leaders in the past have also used ‘Bharat’ instead of India. “Constitution allows us to use India as well as Bharat. We want to know why the chief minister is misleading the people… We do not know what is their motive,” Ramesh said.

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The controversy was triggered after the invitation for the G20 dinner was sent out in the name of the President of ‘Bharat’ and not India.

Vijayan on Wednesday also strongly condemned the Centre’s move to allegedly replace the name ‘India’ with ‘Bharat’ describing it as an attempt to remove the word ‘India’ through a constitutional amendment.

|The Chief Minister urged the people to unite and resist “such brazen political measures and urged the central government to withdraw from such attempts to defy the Constitution and disregard the nation.

On Tamil Nadu Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin’s “eradicating Sanatana Dharma” remark, the BJP leader said, “He (Stalin) wants to destroy Sanatana Dharma. He is anti-national. We demand his resignation and urge the Central government to take appropriate action against the minister”.

Earlier in the day, BJP’s farmers wing of the state unit, Karshaka Morcha, staged a hunger strike outside the secretariat here against the state government.

Ramesh, who led the protests, alleged farmers had not received the payment of paddy acquired by the Kerala government and blamed the state agriculture minister P Prasad for the delay.

“The farmers are not getting enough price for their produce. So they have come out on the streets to protest. We are demanding the resignation of Minister P Prasad. Lakhs of farmers are on hunger strike”.