New Delhi: The battle lines are drawn as the Opposition alliance christens itself INDIA, triggering a fierce backlash from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Naresh Bansal, a BJP Rajya Sabha MP from Uttarakhand, has demanded that the word India be scrapped from the Constitution of the country, claiming that it was a colonial imposition that replaced the true name ‘Bharat’. The BJP MP said that the name India is a symbol of slavery that our country still bears and it should be removed at once.
Many BJP leaders have already framed it as a clash between India and Bharat. Before Bansal, senior BJP leader and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also declared the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as a showdown between Bharat and India.
Earlier on Thursday, Opposition members led by Congress MPs stormed out of Rajya Sabha proceedings over their demand for a debate on the Manipur situation.
When the Upper House, which was disrupted twice in the pre-lunch session amid relentless chanting by members of both treasury benches and the opposition, resumed for the post-lunch period, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurah Thakur introduced the Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2023 amid chanting by the opposition members.
When Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge was given the chance to speak by Deputy Chairman Harivansh, members of the treasury benches started shouting. Kharge said he wanted to speak on the bill as well as “dil ki baat” and tried to raise the Manipur issue which was rejected by the deputy chairman saying he should limit himself to speaking on the bill as per rules of the House.
Subsequently, the opposition members walked out of the House even as it continued discussion on the bill.
Source: Bureau
