NEW DELHI: After the group of 26 opposition parties designated itself INDIA at their second meeting at Bengaluru, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday took a swipe at their branding and said that even East India Company of the Britishers and Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), which changed its name to Popular Front of India (PFI) have INDIA in them. 

Addressing a public rally at Sikar in Rajasthan, the PM mocked the opposition bloc’s and said the people cannot be misled merely by the use of the country's name He said that people should reject them as their motives were questionable. 

On July 18, at Bengaluru, after their first meeting at Patna, the 26 opposition parties led by the Congress Party named their bloc as Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) to take their agenda of a united fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its bloc the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP, in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

PM Modi said, "India was there in the name of East India Company but its real intention was to loot India. India was also there in the name of terror organisation SIMI which changed its name after a ban to PFI and the intention of the organisation was to damage India through terror attacks, so just naming is only to mislead the people."

He also took a direct swipe at the Congress, and said the slogan 'Indira is India and India is Indira' during the era of former prime minister Indira Gandhi has now changed to 'UPA is India and India is UPA'.

Earlier, in the week, during the BJP’s parliamentary party meeting in the national capital on July 25, the PM was quoted by BJP Lok Sabha MP Ravi Shankar Prasad as saying that he had lashed out at the opposition, he said that today people are using names like Indian Mujahideen and PFI. Something at face value could be different from something that is really true, Prasad quoted the PM as saying. He said that the PM said the Indian National Congress and East India Company were founded by a foreign national (A O Hume). 

The Congress however retorted by saying it shows the PM’s desperation. Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said in a tweet, “Firstly, the PM took an entire week to come up with a response to INDIA. And when he does, it is a shameful, troll-like retort which only goes to defame our country, our democracy and Indian people. This language shows the PM's utter desperation as the tide is clearly turning.”