2023-09-05 20:58:00
By calling it “Bharat” instead of “India”, the country lays claim to its origins. (AFP photo)
The Indian government generated a controversy on Tuesday after sending an official invitation within the framework of the G20 summit to be held this weekend in New Delhi, with the use of the word “Bharat”the other term recognized by the Constitution, instead of Republic of Indiaas the country is usually known.
“The President of Bharat requests the pleasure of your company”reads the invitation shared on social networks and written in English for an official dinner next Saturday.
The letter was issued on behalf of the president Draupadi Murmua member of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The invitation released this Tuesday comes amid rumors, collected by the opposition, but not confirmed by the Government, that the BJP party could change the name of the country only to Bharat.
Many Indian media outlets have reported that the government may table a resolution to that effect during a special session of Parliament this month, but the government has yet to disclose the agenda for the session to be held from 18 to 22 September.
BJP leaders back the name change, saying the name India was introduced by British colonists, who ruled the country for 200 years, and is a “symbol of slavery.”
“Republic of Bharat. Happy and glad that our civilization is steadily advancing towards ‘Amrit Kaal'”a term that can be translated as the golden age and that is used by the government to describe the aspirations of the Asian country, said the head of government of the northeastern state of Assam and a member of the pro-government force, Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The disputes over “India” versus “Bharat” They have been gaining ground since opposition parties announced in July a new alliance – called the Inclusive National Alliance for India’s Development, or INDIA – to unseat Modi and his party in the 2024 national elections.
Since then, some officials in Modi’s party have demanded that the country be called Bharat instead of India.
It is for this reason that the invitation was interpreted in an electoral key by the members of the formation led by the historic Congress Party (INC) of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.
“Are you so afraid of INDIA?” the Congress Party tweeted.
Meanwhile, the parliamentarian of the Congress Party and Minister of State for Human Resources Development, Shashi Tharoor, advocated using both forms.
“Although there is no constitutional impediment to calling the country Bharatwhich is one of the two official names of India, I hope the government is not so foolish as to completely abandon India, which has incalculable brand value and built over centuries,” he said.
the G20
This weekend the country will host the G20 Leaders Summit, which will be attended by the leaders of the 20 main economies of the world, including Argentina.
The Republic of India, with more than 1,400 million inhabitants, is also known under the Hindi term Bharat, which was derived from the Sanskrit Bharata, which is believed by many historians to date back to early Hindu texts. According to Hindu mythology, Bharat was a mythical emperor from classical literature and the first to conquer the entire country, uniting it into a single entity.
indostan is another word for nation and is often used in literature and other forms of popular culture. The name India was imposed by the colonial power of the United Kingdom, from which the Asian country only became independent in 1947, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. The Constitution formulates in its first article that the country is called “India, which is Bharat”.
For decades, Indian governments of various stripes have tried to erase the traces of the British colonial era, renaming streets and even entire cities, a process that has intensified since 2014, when Modi became prime minister.
In 2015, New Delhi’s famous Aurangzeb Street, named after a Mughal king, was changed to Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Street after protests by Modi party leaders.
Last year, the government also renamed a colonial-era avenue in the heart of New Delhi that is used for ceremonial military parades.
Modi government says name changes are an effort to reclaim India’s Hindu pastbut the opposition accuses him of pursuing a nationalist agenda aimed at forming an ethnic Hindu state out of a constitutionally secular India.
In addition, its Executive ordered the suppression of Islamic place names, imposed under the Mughal empire, which preceded British colonization. The measure was criticized by part of the population, who denounced a desire to establish the supremacy of the Hindu religion, the majority in the country.
Although India is a multi-religious country, Hinduism has gained ground in recent years.: by 2010, 80.45% of the population was Hindu, followed by 13.4% believers of Islam, 2.34% adherents of Christianity and 1.87% Sikhs, with much smaller proportions of followers of Buddhism , animism, Jainism and non-believers.
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