“Bharat-India name row only to divert attention…”: PDP leader Mohit Bhan

Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India]: Amid the ‘India versus Bharat’ controversy, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mohit Bhan on Wednesday said the debate around ‘Bharat’ has been raked up only to divert the attention of the G20 dignitaries visiting the country from the “real issues”.

“This debate (Bharat-India name row) has been raked up to divert the attention of those G20 dignitaries who’re coming to India, from the real issues. Whatever you call this nation, the real issues of the nation will stay the same. They (BJP) failed to solve these issues in the past nine years,” Mohit Bhan said while speaking to reporters in Srinagar.

Bhan further argued that it does not matter what the country’s name is, and that issues like unemployment, inflation, and hatred remain the same.

“Whether you call this country India or Bharat, unemployment, inflation, and hatred that is being spread, all these things are the same…,” the PDP leader said.

Speaking on the Supreme Court reserving its verdict on Article 370, Mohit Bhan said that he hoped that the article, which integrates the region with the Indian mainland, would be restored through its judgment.

“We hope that the article, which truly integrates Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India and served as a bridge between our region and the Indian mainland, will be restored by the Supreme Court,” Bhan said.

“Our party’s stand has been clear from the start. After August 5, 2019, when Article 370 was removed unconstitutionally, we have been waging a legal battle for its restoration. The lawyers on our side have put forward strong arguments before the judges while the submissions by the defence were mere rhetoric,” the PDP leader added.

A controversy erupted after a formal invitation to foreign delegates for the G20 dinner was sent out in the name of the ‘President of Bharat’ and not India, with the Opposition leaders in the INDIA bloc, claiming that the BJP was nervous about the nomenclature.

The leaders of the Opposition bloc alleged that the Centre was resorting to “drama” just because they came together and named their grouping INDIA. BJP leaders, however, strongly supported the Centre’s wording of the formal invite to the G20 dinner.