India Or Bharat? Is A Renaming Afoot?
NEW DELHI (IANS, ANI) – In the dinner invitations sent to guests attending the G20 summit here, the Narendra Modi government has replaced India with the Sanskrit Bharat.
Indian President Droupadi Murmu is referred to as “President of Bharat” instead of “President of India” in the invitation sent to attendees.
The country is interchangeably known by its citizens by both names. While Bharat is more often used by campaigning politicians when speaking in the local languages, India is now used in the smallest of villages as well as internationally.
“While there is no constitutional objection to calling India “Bharat,” which is one of the country’s two official names, I hope the government will not be so foolish as to completely dispense with “India,” which has incalculable brand value built up over centuries,” Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said on X. He said Indians should “continue to use both words rather than relinquish our claim to a name redolent of history, a name that is recognized around the world.”
Taking strong exception to the invitation for the G20 dinner sent in the name of ‘President of Bharat’ and not India, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha said, “The BJP’s recent move to change the reference from ‘President of India’ to ‘President of Bharat’ on official G20 summit invitations has raised eyebrows and ignited a public debate. How can the BJP strike down ‘INDIA’? The country doesn’t belong to a political party; it belongs to 135 crore Indians. Our national identity is not the BJP’s personal property that it can modify on whims and fancies.”
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took a dig at the Modi government asking whether they would change the name of the nation to Bharatiya Janata Party if the INDIA bloc gets changed into Bharat. He was referring to the bloc formed by the country’s opposition parties who have come together united by their distaste for the BJP.
Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar lashed out at the criticism and said that the country was Bharat and will always remain Bharat. “They have a problem with everything, and I do not want to say anything to them. I am a ‘Bharatwaasi’, the name of my country was ‘Bharat’ and will remain ‘Bharat’ always,” the Union Minister said.
Social media and the citizens on the street were abuzz with the news. India is viewed as a colonial name and the BJP has often said the nation is no longer servile. The BJP has also not hesitated to change any names it deems fit.
Given this, there is speculation that this could happen with the national name too.
Prabhat Kumar
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BHARAT MATA KI JAI 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
September 5, 2023iyer
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Not sure good or challenging in the long run. Could be a smart move to counter the opposition medlee of I .N. D. I .A. to make them non-relevant during election.
September 5, 2023VIJAY
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It is about time. It has been Bharat. Now it is in the open.
September 5, 2023VIJAY
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It is about time. It has always been Bharat.
September 5, 2023Jay
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It is a good time to shake the burden of colonialism…
September 5, 2023Suresh Rastogi, PhD
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The real name of my birth country is Bharat. Moreover, when the opposition parties recently misused the “INDIA” and recently named themselves collectively “I.N.D.I.A.”, phony baloney, downgrading the good name of a proud country and its citizens. I ask the good citizens of Bharat: Are you going to be duped by these tactics of opposition parties and BJP? Just keep in mind how much the BJP-led government has done in Bharat as well as its place in the World. The Opposition group has no mandate to take the country to new heights.
September 5, 2023Raj
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I think it is is huge mistake to abandon INDIA for Bharat, unless India wants to abandon global recognition. I can’t believe that our leaders have nothing better to do than spend time and enormnous resources in changing the name of the country. The name BHARAT does not make India better or stronger, but only makes it “local but not Global”. Leave INDIAS alone!!
September 5, 2023Partha Sircar
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Changing the name of a city, state or country is nothing new and is becoming more and more common. It is driven by the desire to name it familiar to the cultural norm and also the sentiments of the citizens. That is why very often the name is changed after a country becomes independent and thus discards its colonial baggage. In the present case, the name ‘Bharat’ finds ample mention in our tradition and in our mythology (the epics and the Puranas) in Northern India. The name therefore has great appeal among North Indians like me. What I wonder is if the same is true of the South Indians: the Tamils, Telugus, Malayalis, the Kannadas and the Tulus. This should be a consideration as they are as much part of India as we are.
September 5, 2023Nan
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The name India and Bharat (Bharata in Sanskrit) are present in the Constitution of India and are used interchangeably. Many counties have dual names one for within the nation and another for the world to know it by. Germany is known as Deutschland by its citizens but Germany to the outside world. The Nazis changed the name to the Third Reich, did away with the constitution and parliament, changed the flag, renamed the streets and all citizens including those in the armed forces were made to swear allegience to Adolf Hitler. We all know what happened later!! Poland is known as Polska by its citizens, Hong Kong is known as Shandong by the Chinese and mainland China is known as Zongguo by them.
September 10, 2023India is a recognizable brand name world wide. I know of Pakistanis who claim that they are Indians in order to avoid the stigma that Pakistan is associated with. At the time of partition Pakistan laid claim to the name India arguing that the Indus (Sindhu) is on their side of the border. That fell through. If India gives up the name it will have a lot to lose. China w
has always claimed that the Indian Ocean should be renamed the China Ocean. Several years ago India had held joint naval exercises with other naviesbut China refused to attend unless the Indian Ocean was renamed. Why try to fix something that has not broken? I pray that rational heads will prevail, not give Pakistan and China a way out and shoot ourselves in the foot. Please don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg.