Amid the controversy surrounding a G20 dinner invite that refers to President Droupadi Murmu as the "President of Bharat" instead of "President of India," and the opposition's claim that the Narendra Modi government is planning to change the name of India to Bharat, local media reports in Pakistan suggest that Pakistan may assert its claim to the name 'India.' In this context Dr.Shahi Tharoor draws the attention that in 2015 Govt of India advising the apex court 'No need to change the name of India to Bharat',

A tweet from the South Asia Index handle stated: "Pakistan may lay claim on the name 'India' if India derecognizes it officially at the UN level. - local media."

"Nationalists in Pakistan have long argued that Pakistan has rights to the name as it refers to the Indus region."

An earlier tweet from the same handle had alleged that the Indian government intends to change the country's name from India to Bharat in an attempt to "decolonize" India.

It should be noted that the Indian government has not issued any official statement regarding a name change for the country.

The handle also highlighted that the name Bharat has its origins in Sanskrit.

"'India' refers to the Indus region, the basin of the mighty Indus River, spanning much of modern-day Pakistan," it added. "Jinnah had objected to British India adopting 'India' as its name for the newly independent country and had suggested Hindustan or Bharat instead."

In 1947, a month after India's Independence, Muhammed Ali Jinnah declined an invitation from Louis Mountbatten to be the honorary president of an art exhibition because the invitation used 'India' instead of 'Hindustan' to refer to the country. Jinnah had written to Mountbatten, "It is a pity that for some mysterious reason Hindustan has adopted the word 'India,' which is certainly misleading and intended to create confusion."

South Asia Index's tweet further asserted that the Indian right-wing has long been opposed to the name "India."