THE dust refuses to settle down as the opinion that people have formed over India or the Bharat. Why not India and Bharat, may I say. Seeds of division have been sowed and the germination process has begun. Can’t say how big the tree will grow. But I am sure this tree will never give rest or peace.
The month of September 2023 will go down in Indian history when President Droupadi Murmu was described as President of Bharat instead of President of India at an official dinner organised at the international summit of G-20 nations in New Delhi. Even Prime Minister Narendra Mode sat behind a placard reading “Bharat” and not India as has been the practice hitherto. Many were shocked, dismayed and confused. Has the Narendra Modi government done what was least expected— changing the name of the nation from India to Bharat. An intense debate took place. History was dug. Arguments were given; articles were written. Likes and dislikes started pouring in from all quarters. A new debate was taking place in India for a new Bharat.
In the new atmosphere if you don’t use Bharat for your beloved country you are not patriotic by any means; a true Indian can’t be a true Bharatiya. Those who still some liking for India were branded as having a colonial mentality and slaves to the foreign culture. I understood it like that.
Logic, fact and mind said there is nothing bad or nothing wrong in accepting Bharat and dump India. But somewhere there existed a void. Emotions were attached with India and heart lived in India. Logic is not needed always. Facts are fine but still…
By now almost everyone of us has mugged up what is stated in our Constitution. On September 18, 1949 the chief architect of the Constitution B R Ambedkar moved to amend Article 1, which states: “India, that is Bharat, shall be a union of States”. Let us also know what initial draft of Article 1 read: India shall be a Union of States. There was strong debate to replace Bharat with India. The final version that we have before us what Ambedkar had moved. At the same time Ambedkar also said that the word Bharat was accepted, and that we should move on to bigger issues.
Things were settled. A calm prevailed. Bonhomie spread. While the nation moved on suddenly reverse gear was applied and the debate sparked off to replace India with Bharat. No bill was presented in Parliament, no debate ever took place, no discussion was done in any quarter, no idea to the people of the country when everyone witnesses a new change coming into practice. Whose idea was it anyway? Was it the ruling BJP government? Was BJP as a party was behind it? Was the Prime Minister Narendra Modi behind it? Suspense continues.
Several quarters echoed their voice that ‘India’ indicates the colonial mindset. An opinion was formed to reject what was prevalent during the British Raj and to adopt what is our own. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat had said in Guwahati sometime ago to stop using the name ‘India’ and switch to ‘Bharat’, our own desi word. Better late than never, you know.
Many of those protesting against the English forgot how proudly do we announce when our children get Rhodes or Chevening scholarships. How much pride they take in getting British Council membership! How can one deny the fact that Oxford still commands more respect in our hearts than any other of our own university? Our own children put in more efforts in learning English, the colonial language, and qualifying IELTS to gain admission to their university. One should not forget that the Allahabad University is also called the ‘Oxford of the East’. Hamara seena 56 inch ka ho jata hai (our chest blows to 56 inches) when it comes to anything that is English.
There is nothing wrong in Bharat either. Those who stand in support are seen as deeply connected to their culture, the history, the roots and having faith in traditions. Historians are yet to find convincing evidence to support the change. The house is divided.
It is not that names have not been changed. Who can forget Calcutta becoming Kolkata, Bangalore becoming Bengaluru, Madras becoming Chennai, Cawnpore becoming Kanpur, Allahabad becoming Prayagraj, Gauhati becoming Guwahati and Bombay becoming Mumbai. But nobody had the slightest inkling that the name Bharat will be officially replaced by India at an international event! The whole world saw it. The whole world experienced it. A mahabharat was triggered over nomenclature.
What is wrong with having two names? Several other countries, too, have it. Turkey is known as Turkiye, the German name of Germany is Deutschland and Japan is the English name Nippon. So why should India which is Bharat affect so much? How can one forget Ceylon becoming Sri Lanka, though Ceylon is etched in our memories for its radio and Ameen Sayani giving his inimitable voice. Burma is now Myanmar though many of us still call it by its older name.
By any standards hybrid use of the name sounds strange. “President of the Republic of Bharat” does not go as good as the “President of the Republic of India”. Well, it could read, “Bharat ke Rashtrapati” and nobody would have found anything odd. Afterall, we all know Japan as a leading country in automobile manufacturing and understand that Nippon is merely a brand that manufactures several electric goods. We all talk of going to Germany to see the Berlin Wall and are familiar with Deutsche Bank as a bank.
FEAR OF UNITED OPPOSITION
What, then, led to this so-called new namkaran (a ritual when we give name to a newborn in the family) controversy? Was it cultural, historical, mythological or followed the lost traditions. None. It was purely political.
When the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power with a whopping majority there was no debate over Bharat or India. When the Modi government was re-elected in 2019 there was, again, no issue like Bharat or India. Then what happened so suddenly? Was there any threat? Was there any scare? Was there any debate? Was there any answerability to someone? If not, then why so much of brouhaha and that too when the country is preparing for next big elections next year, i.e. 2024.
The root cause of the whole debate lies in the fact that prime opposition parties of the country have rechristened their alliance as Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance or I.N.D.I.A., in short. So far, it was known as United Progressive Alliance or the UPA formed after the 2004 general elections and was led by the Indian National Congress, the party that we call as Congress. Rahul Gandhi was the face and continues to be so. He continues to lead the newly-named alliance.
The acronym I.N.D.I.A. has done ‘wonders’ for the freshly united opposition. They were sinking and needed it badly. The target, Modi government, was hit. The dart was sharp on the dot. To quote Rahul Gandhi “that got them all heated up”. The Modi government is hunting for the Sanjeevni Booti (the remedial herbal treatment plant described in ‘Ramayana’). Does it have a Hanuman to rush and bring the whole lot of relief? Alas, not! Ironically, in BJP Modi is Ram, Modi is Laxman and he is Hanuman. Modi is the face, Modi is the saviour.
The biggest failure of Narendra Modi, in the past 10 years, is that he never encouraged talent. It is not that there is any dearth of it. But Modi is the face. He is the ruler. He is the government. He is the party. He is the ringmaster. He is the striker and he is the goalkeeper. Modi is the pilot, he is a co-pilot and he is the navigator.
The opposition had the pulse. It knows how BJP and RSS project themselves as the guardians of nationalism, Hindi, Hindu and Hindutva, Bharat and Bharatiyata and the guardians of pracheen Bharatiya Sanskriti. And if you disagree, they lose no time branding you anti-national.
The I.N.D.I.A. acronym was the answer to this narrative. However, it is debatable how correct it is to use the country’s name as an acronym.
For the united opposition, Congress, in particular, half the battle is won. Short of any other idea to counter the opposition move Modi government decided to use Bharat, instead of India, at a major international event. A unilateral decision, indeed.
An undeterred Rahul says, “The Constitution actually uses both names, right? The line in the Constitution, which I began with, is ‘India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States’. So, I don’t really see a problem… both are perfectly acceptable.” He further added, “But, I think, maybe we irritated the government a little because we named our coalition I.N.D.I.A. and that got them all heated up. And now they have decided to change the name of the country.”
POLL PLANK?
The BJP seems to be losing the battle; though nobody can predict whether the party will win the war since the elections are still several months away. The BJP, as a party and the ruling government, never looked so shaken. They were confident of returning to a third term in 2024. Now the scenario has changed. The party has revived an old debate on nomenclature and played the nationalist card with it. Emotions run high and opinions swirl around it.
For every Indian, both Bharat and India have been the most loved ones. Both the names have been interchangeably used on every platform. India remains as much in the hearts of its people as Bharat. So far no problem. The problem will crop if the BJP comes with its unilateral decision and removes India to pave the way for Bharat. What will, then, happen to AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences)? Will it be known All Bharat Institute of Medicaal Sciences (ABIMS)? What will happen to the prestigious IAS? Will it be known as Bharat Administrative Services (BAS)?
The nation knows Bharat is as good as India. Perfect and full of patriotism. We say ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ with as much pride as ‘Chak de India’.
