Mamata Banerjee questions sudden shift to 'Bharat' instead of India

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan shared on X, formerly knows as Twitter, a G20 dinner invitation from President Murmu which described her position as "President of Bharat".

This name change issue has sparked a political debate, with the Congress party, an ally of Banerjee's TMC, accusing the government of being "scared" of the INDIA bloc and attempting to distract from pressing issues like inflation and unemployment. Banerjee also criticized Governor CV Ananda Bose for allegedly withholding bills passed by the state assembly and threatened to stage a dharna (sit-in protest) outside the Raj Bhavan if this practice continued.

"The governor’s actions are an attempt to paralyse the state administration. He is not returning a single bill passed by the assembly. There is a provision that if a bill is sent to him he has to return it. If a bill is returned twice, it becomes an act. He is not returning a single bill," she said. "If federalism is interfered with by taking away rights (of the state governments), I will be forced to sit on dharna outside the Raj Bhavan. We will not allow injustice, Bengal knows how to fight back. Wait and watch," she said, adding that the government will take legal steps.

Banerjee also alleged that the governor was interfering in the functioning of schools, colleges and universities in the state. "The state frames all policy. If you interfere, I will block funds to all those universities and colleges which follow your directions. I will see how you will give salaries to the vice-chancellors (appointed by the Governor)," she said, promising a "tit for tat" action.

The governor, in his capacity as the chancellor of state-run universities, had on Sunday night appointed interim vice-chancellors for seven varsities, including the prestigious Presidency University, MAKAUT and the University of Burdwan. Sources said the interim vice-chancellors of nine other universities have also been finalised and appointment letters "will be issued soon".

Noting that the vice-chancellors should be picked from the names suggested by a five-member search committee, Banerjee said, "The governor is appointing persons at his will with no regard to the suggestions. He appointed a BJP man as the vice-chancellor of Jadavpur University at midnight. He made an IPS officer of Kerala cadre the vice-chancellor of a sensitive university such as Aliah. He recruited a person with no academic experience as the VC of Rabindra Bharati University." Claiming that it was a conspiracy aimed at a collapse of the system, she said, "We will not allow this to continue. If the governor thinks he is bigger than the chief minister, we will fight him back. He should not forget that he is nominated to that post."