The top brass of the Trinamul Congress on Wednesday asked leaders to refrain from overreacting to the prospect of a change in the country’s official name to Bharat before calling it the Narendra Modi government’s tactics to distract attention from core issues like inflation and unemployment.

Trinamul’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday afternoon conveyed the party’s stand on the issue using his official X (formerly Twitter) handle.

“INDIA vs BHARAT is just a distraction orchestrated by the BJP. Let’s cut to the chase and hold the govt accountable for skyrocketing prices, rampant inflation, communal tensions, unemployment, border disputes, and their empty rhetoric of Double Engine and Nationalism. #Stayfocused,” Abhishek wrote on his social media handle.

A source said even before Abhishek’s message appeared on social media, top Trinamul leaders had begun asking the party’s functionaries to downplay the purported move to make “India” “Bharat” and stay focussed on those key issues which the Narendra Modi government wanted to push under the carpet.

“We have been asked to downplay the India-Bharat conflict and highlight the relevant issues as much as possible. The party believes that focussing on the change in the name of the country would help the saffron camp ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP has already started campaigning that Trinamul has a problem even with the name of Bharat,” said a Trinamul leader in Calcutta.

A Trinamul insider said though the party had primarily decided to go slow over the name change, reports of political programmes being launched on the subject started coming from different areas in the backdrop of Tuesday’s comments by chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Mamata, who is the key leader of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), a coalition of anti-BJP parties, had on Tuesday expressed displeasure over the issue and raised questions on the timing and the motive of the purported move to change the name of the country.

The purported plan to change the country’s name prompted the INDIA constituents to suggest that the move was the result of the BJP’s fear of the bloc.

As soon as Mamata raised her objections, Trinamul leaders in different districts began drawing up plans to hold rallies in their respective areas to attack the BJP.

Such a rally was organised in Hooghly’s Chinsurah headed by local Trinamul MLA Asit Majumdar. Trinamul workers marched in the town with flags and posters.

“’Mera Bharat Mahan’ is not a new slogan as it has been pitched since the time of Jawaharlal Nehru. So many institutions like the Reserve Bank contain the name India, not Bharat. So, we hit the streets to let people know that there is no need to change the name by erasing India,” Majumdar said.

A senior Trinamul leader said there was no reason to waste time behind such a distractive issue and that was why Abhishek had sent a clear message.