‘India likely to be renamed Bharat’. The five-day special session of Parliament is scheduled to begin on September 18, with much anticipation surrounding the possibility of a major decision by the government.
Following UCC and ‘one-nation, one election,’ another theory is circulating, pointing to an official change in our nation’s name from ‘India’ to ‘Bharat’ via a constitutional amendment under Article 368.
Article 1 of the Indian constitution refers to our country as “India, that is Bharat,” and describes it as a “Union of States.”
The name was decided by the Constituent Assembly after much debate, with some members preferring the name India and others preferring Bharat.
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The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stated several times that it prefers the name “Bharat.” PM Modi asked citizens to pledge to eliminate all traces of slavery during his Independence Day speech in 2022.
The change from India to Bharat can be interpreted as a symbolic gesture towards embracing our nation’s cultural identity.
The murmurs around the expectation were substantiated by two incidents- one is the recent post by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on X (formerly Twitter) who said “REPUBLIC OF BHARAT – happy and proud that our civilization is marching ahead boldly towards AMRIT KAAL.”
‘India likely to be renamed Bharat’, check the Tweet:
REPUBLIC OF BHARAT – happy and proud that our civilisation is marching ahead boldly towards AMRIT KAAL
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) September 5, 2023
“So the news is indeed true. Rashtrapati Bhawan has sent out an invite for a G20 dinner on Sept 9th in the name of ‘President of Bharat’ instead of the usual ‘President of India’. Now, Article 1 in the Constitution can read: “Bharat, that was India, shall be a Union of States.” But now even this “Union of States” is under assault,” Jairam Ramesh said.
The demand to change the name of the country from India to Bharat has been raised several times, and supporters include Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat. The move is likely to be labeled as yet another attempt to distance itself from the colonial legacy.
Notably, the change may occur at a time when the 28-member Opposition bloc planning to run in the Lok Sabha elections in 2024 is known as the Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). The development could spark a new round of hostilities between the government and the opposition.
