A number of state and central universities in some states have decided to replace the word “India” with “Bharat” in their degrees, marksheets, correspondence, invites, and signboards, among other things.
On Sunday, President Droupadi Murmu will attend a convocation of Rani Durgavati University in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur, a state university, where all degrees to be awarded will feature Bharat instead of India.
Rani Durgavati University’s Vice-Chancellor (V-C) Rajesh Kumar Verma told The Indian Express that the university will henceforth use Bharat on all its degrees and marksheets in Hindi as well as English. “In the G 20 summit, the word Bharat was used. We are people of Bharat and the real name of the country is Bharat. The name India came later. So, our Executive Council passed a resolution to use the word Bharat in all our documentation.”
He said the university was felicitated at Gyan Mahakumbh held during Mahakumbh in Prayagraj in 2025 for this proposal.
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‘Real name’ reasoning
Asked why this replacement was necessary if one believes in Akhand Bharat, Verma said, “This is not a question of discarding it. My name is Rajesh Verma. If my family members began calling me Raju, I am not asking why they did so. I am just saying that Rajesh Verma has been Rajesh Verma since he was born in this world.” He added that “Since the country is the land of emperor Bharat, its real name is Bharat”.
Another MP university, Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya in Indore, says it was the first off the block in the state. Its V-C Rakesh Singhai told The Indian Express: “We were the first one to pass such a resolution, and have already replaced India with Bharat in writing everywhere. The other universities are following the example set by us.”
These instances are not limited to MP alone as they have also been seen in several universities in some other states.
Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur, a central university, has also decided to replace India with Bharat. Its V-C Alok Kumar Chakrawal told the Express, “We have decided to use Bharat instead of India. It is yet to appear in marksheets but the decision has already been taken. The real name of the country is Bharat. It is foreigners who named it India. It is the belief of all intelligent people and intellectuals that we should call it Bharat.”
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He said once the already published stock of marksheets and degrees is exhausted, the new ones will have Bharat instead of India on them.
Behind these moves is a campaign undertaken by the Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas – an organisation having close links with the RSS – which had been associated with the late Dina Nath Batra.
M L Gupta, a member of the central executive committee of the Bharatiya Bhasha Manch, a wing of the Nyas, told the Express that they have campaigned extensively to have the word India replaced with Bharat.
Gupta argues that a country or a person should not have two names, adding that the real name of the country is Bharat, but it came to be known as India, a word taken from the Indus, after the British came here. “The British used the name in a derogatory sense, why should we retain it?” he asks.
He says the efforts of the Nyas gradually yielded results, citing the use of the word Bharat even in English during the G 20 summit as “a sign of the change of mood in the country”.
Gupta has also written a book, titled “India Nahin Bharat”, where he says, “Our nation’s name has been Bharat for thousands of years. But after Independence, in Article 1 of the Constitution, our country was called India That is Bharat. If one looks at history, the name India is seen nowhere before the advent of Europeans to the country.” He also states: “During the British empire, foreign rulers used the word India for our country. Even after Independence because of foreign hegemony (prabhutva) and subordination (paradheenta), the word India was used before and alongside the glorious name Bharat when the Constitution was made.”
In his book, Gupta claims that 17 different universities and educational institutions across MP, Haryana, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Maharashtra have duly passed resolutions that they would only use the word Bharat for all official purposes.
University V-C calls Hindi ‘rashtra bhasha‘
The V-C of Raja Mansingh Tomar Music and Arts University, Gwalior, Smita Sahasrabudhe, confirmed that its Executive Council also decided to replace India with Bharat in its documents as they were “convinced” by the arguments made by a Nyas delegation. “Hindi is called rashtra bhasha, so Bharat should be used instead of India. As soon as our old stock of marksheets gets over, the new marksheets and degrees will replace India with Bharat,” she said.
In 2025, addressing Gyan Sabha, a national education conference organised by the Nyas in Kochi, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said, “Bharat is a proper noun. It should not be translated as ‘India is Bharat’. That is true. But Bharat is Bharat. That is why, while talking, writing and speaking, be it personal or public, we should keep Bharat as Bharat.”
The Constitution uses both names India and Bharat for the country, leading to it being called India in English and Bharat in Hindi.
In 2023, a G-20 dinner invite referred to Draupadi Murmu as President of Bharat. The Office Memorandum of the 2026 Republic Day was bilingual – it referred to the Government as Government of India/Bharat Sarkar.
The Narendra Modi government has continued to use both Bharat and India for official purposes, with the word India featuring in some of its key schemes including Make In India, Startup India and Stand-Up India.
President Droupadi Murmu will attend a Madhya Pradesh university convocation where all the degrees will feature 'Bharat' instead of 'India' (File photo). 
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