Plea against use of INDIA acronym politically motivated: Congress to Delhi HC

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Tuesday opposed in the Delhi High Court a petition against the use of acronym INDIA, saying it is a “politically motivated” plea and shall be dismissed with exemplary costs.

The Congress said the petitioner has failed to establish the very basis of the petition, that the name of the alliance has caused confusion amongst the voters and misled them into voting for the alliance solely on the basis of the acronym and “as a matter of national duty”.

“The petitioner has also failed to provide any evidence with respect to use of ‘I.N.D.I.A’ as an acronym for an alliance as ‘diminishing goodwill’ of the nation in global politics,” the Congress said in its reply filed to the petition.

The reply was filed in a public interest litigation which alleged that by using the INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) acronym, the parties were taking “undue advantage in the name of our country”.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet P S Arora is scheduled to hear the petition on Wednesday.

The high court on April 2 had granted a last opportunity to the Centre and several opposition parties to respond to the plea filed by Girish Bharadwaj.

The Congress, in its reply, said the petitioner has claimed to be a 30-year-old businessman based in Karnataka but he has deliberately suppressed the fact that he is closely associated with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and a perusal of the pleadings makes it amply evident that one of the motives of filing this petition is to bolster his political affiliation.

“Therefore, the present petition is not only a politically motivated petition, but has been filed under the garb of a public interest litigation with an aim to advance the political stratagems of the petitioner. Hence, being both personally as well as politically motivated, the same is liable to be dismissed with exemplary costs,” it said.

The Congress further said the petitioner has not been able to show any provision in law which stops the respondent parties from adopting this name and acronym.

The petition is nothing but a “malicious and frivolous attempt” by the petitioner to embroil this court in matters of politics and elections under the garb of public interest and hence, is liable to be dismissed with exemplary costs, it said.

In November, 2023, the counsel for the central government had urged the court to grant a week or 10 days more time to file their reply.

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, who represented nine political parties including the Congress, Trinamool Congress, DMK and others, had said there were “preliminary objections” against the petition and the Supreme Court has already dealt with the issue.

The petitioner had approached the high court earlier and sought interim order staying the use of acronym INDIA by 26 political parties and to also prohibit the use of the national flag with the acronym INDIA by the respondent political alliance. The court had issued notice on the petition in August last year.

The political parties which have been arrayed as respondents include the Congress, Trinamool Congress, DMK, Aam Aadmi Party, Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar), Shiv Sena (UBT), Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Apna Dal (Kamerawadi). PTI SKV SKV KSS KSS