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Journalism of Courage
Barely two weeks before Parliament meets for a special session, the agenda of which is still under wraps, a political row erupted Tuesday over the name of the country after the government sent out a G20 Summit dinner invitation in the name of the “President of Bharat”, and not the President of India.
As the Opposition attacked the ruling BJP, a government booklet on the Prime Minister’s visit to Indonesia for the 20th ASEAN-India Summit and the 18th East Asia Summit referred to Narendra Modi as the “Prime Minister of Bharat”. It was tweeted by BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra who too mentioned “Prime Minister of Bharat”.
Rejecting as “rumours” the speculation, especially in the Opposition camp, that the special session of the House had been called to effect a name change from India to Bharat, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Arunag Thakur told The Indian Express: “I think these are just rumours which are taking place. All I want to say is that anyone who objects to the word Bharat clearly shows the mindset.”
On the President’s dinner invitation, Thakur said the President is “Bharat ke Rashtrapati… toh unhone likh diya (so she wrote) President of Bharat. So what?”
“I am a Minister in the Bharat Sarkar. There is nothing new in it. G20-2023 (branding, logo) will have both Bharat and India written. So why this objection to the name Bharat? Why does anyone have an objection to Bharat? This shows their mentality, that in their hearts they are against India or Bharat. When they go overseas, they criticise Bharat. When they are in India, they have objection to the name of Bharat,” he said.
“Who has dropped it? (the word India)… Nobody has dropped it. Even if you look at the G20 branding… it is India 2023 and Bharat. Why should anyone even speculate or object to Bharat being written like that? This branding has been done for the last one year.”
Thakur’s remarks came after the Opposition INDIA alliance pointed to the dinner invitation in the name of the “President of Bharat” and slammed the BJP.
The draft Article 1 of the Constitution – Article 1 says “India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States” – was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on September 18, 1949. The five-day special session of Parliament starts this September 18, and this fuelled speculation Tuesday, especially among Opposition parties.
Earlier in the day, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan took to social media to share the dinner invitation in the name of the “President of Bharat”.
BJP leader and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma put out a social media post which read “Republic of Bharat – happy and proud that our civilisation is marching ahead boldly towards Amrit Kaal”, and, speaking to reporters, asked why should the country have an English name.
“It is clearly written in our Constitution: India, that is Bharat. The name Bharat has been in usage for thousands of years. So there is no need to give any new name to Bharat. Our country was Bharat, is Bharat and will remain Bharat,” Sarma told reporters.
Prime Minister Modi has often spoken about India’s glorious civilisational past, the need for unshackling its colonial legacy and reaffirming and rediscovering its roots and heritage.
In his Independence Day address last year, the Prime Minister had spoken about the “Panch Pran”, stressing the need to decolonise minds and taking pride in India’s civilisational heritage.
“In no part of our existence, not even in the deepest corners of our mind or habits should there be any ounce of slavery. It should be nipped there itself… This slavery of hundreds of years has kept us bound, has forced us to keep our emotions tied up (and has) developed distorted thinking in us. We have to liberate ourselves from the slavery mindset which is visible in innumerable things within and around us,” he told the nation.
The Modi government has been signalling that the country needs to shed its colonial past – the latest being the introduction of Bills to overhaul criminal laws, replacing the IPC, CrPC and the Indian Evidence Act with Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill and Bharatiya Sakshya Bill.
Earlier, the government had renamed Rajpath as Kartavya Path, unveiled the new Naval ensign marking a departure from the colonial past, renamed landmarks in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands – Ross Island was renamed Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep; Neil Island as Shaheed Dweep and Havelock Island as Swaraj Dweep – and the Race Course Road, on which the Prime Minister’s official residence is located, as Lok Kalyan Marg.
