Bharat G20 Invitation Fuels Rumours About Renaming The Country

(CTN News) – After a state-issued invitation to the G20 summit referred to India as Bharat, speculation arose regarding plans to scrap the official use of the country’s English name.

Despite the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to remove lingering symbols of British rule from India’s urban landscape, political institutions, and history books, this could be the biggest step to date.

This weekend, India will host the G20 summit and world leaders will attend a state dinner hosted by the “president of Bharat”.

In general, Modi refers to India as Bharat, a term derived from ancient Hindu scriptures written in Sanskrit and one of two official names.

Several members of his Hindu nationalist ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have previously campaigned against the use of the term India, which has its roots in western antiquity and was imposed by the British.

The government has called a special session of parliament for later in the month, but remains tight-lipped about its legislative agenda, but News18 reported that unnamed government sources have told it that BJP lawmakers would present a special resolution giving precedence to the name Bharat.

When rumours of the plan spread, opposition and enthusiastic support were mixed.

As Shashi Tharoor, leader of the Congress party, said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter: “I hope the government will not be so foolish as to completely disregard the concept of “India.”.”

“We should continue to use both words rather than relinquish our claim to a name that is synonymous with history and is widely recognized throughout the world.”.

A former Test cricketer, Virender Sehwag, welcomed the prospect of a name change and urged the Indian cricket board to begin using the name Bharat on team uniforms. “India is a name given by the British (and) it has been long past due for us to reclaim our original name, ‘Bharat.'”

Various Indian governments have attempted to eradicate traces of the British colonial era by renaming roads and even entire cities. Modi’s government has intensified this process, citing the need for India to abandon the traces of a “colonial mindset” in public speeches.

In order to replace colonial-era structures, his administration renovated the parliamentary precinct in the capital, New Delhi, which was originally designed by the British.

According to the home minister, Amit Shah, the government outlined plans for a sweeping overhaul of India’s pre-independence criminal code to remove references to the British monarchy.

According to critics, Modi’s government is also trying to assert the supremacy of India’s Hindu majority by removing Islamic place names imposed during the Mughal empire preceding British rule.

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