India’s Name Change to Bharat: Unveiling the G20 Invite Controversy

NEW DELHI, Sept 6 (Reuters) – Speculation surrounding a potential name change for India has emerged after Indian President Droupadi Murmu referred to herself as “President of Bharat” in invitations for a dinner on the sidelines of the G20 summit. This deviation from the convention of using the name India in English invitations has raised questions about the government’s intentions.

Traditionally, Indian constitutional bodies use the name India in English and Bharat in Hindi. However, the G20 dinner invitations, which were issued in English, referred to Murmu as the President of Bharat. When approached for comment, the president’s office declined to provide any statement.

Critics believe that given the Hindu-nationalist ideology of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and their emphasis on increased use of Hindi, this change in the invitations indicates a potential official name change. In the past, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has changed colonial names of towns and cities in an effort to move away from what they perceive as a colonial mindset.

India is officially known as “Bharat” in Indian languages, including Hindi. The English version of the constitution refers to the country as India and states that “India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.” However, in Hindi, the constitution replaces India with Bharat throughout except when defining the country’s name, which states “Bharat, that is India, shall be a Union of States.”

To officially change India’s name to only Bharat would require a constitutional amendment that needs to be passed by a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament.

The timing of this controversy is noteworthy, as it comes just days after the government announced a surprise special session of parliament later this month without disclosing the agenda. Speculations have arisen that a name change could be discussed and passed during this session. While there has been no confirmation of such plans, members of the government and the ruling BJP have expressed their support for the name Bharat over India. The ideological parent of the BJP, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has always advocated for the country to be called Bharat.

Supporters of the name Bharat argue that “India” was not given by British colonizers but rather derives from the river Indus, known as Sindhu in Sanskrit. The region southeast of the Indus River came to be identified as India by travelers from as far away as Greece, even prior to Alexander the Great’s Indian campaign in the 3rd century BCE. On the other hand, the name Bharat has ancient roots and appears in ancient Indian scriptures, but some experts believe it was primarily used as a term of socio-cultural identity rather than geography.

It remains to be seen if the government will officially change India’s name. For now, the controversy surrounding the use of Bharat in the G20 dinner invitations has sparked discussions about the country’s identity and historical significance.

Reporting by Krishn Kaushik, Editing by William Maclean

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