Bharat vs India Dispute

Bharat vs India Dispute

This topic is related to Current Affairs of IAS/PCS Prelims Exam and Mains Exam General Studies Question Paper 2 Indian Polity.

September 09, 2023

In News:

  • Recently, a notable change has been introduced in the invitation for the G-20 summit to be held in New Delhi.
  • Instead of the traditional 'President of India', the words 'President of Bharat ' is written on this invitation card, which has created a big dispute among political parties due to changing the name of the country from India to Bharat.

Origin of the name ‘Bharat’:

  • The historical and cultural roots of the word 'India' are quite deep, which can be traced back to mythological literature and the epic Mahabharata.
  • The Vishnu Purana describes "Bharat" as the land between the southern ocean and the northern snowy Himalayan Mountains.
  • It symbolizes a religious and socio-cultural entity more than just a political or geographical entity.
  • The name of India is linked to a famous ancient king 'Bharat'.
  • India is considered to be the ancestor of the Rig Vedic tribes, symbolizing the ancestors of all the people of the subcontinent.
  • The origin of the word India is taken from the word INDUS (Indus), which is the name of a river flowing through the north-western part of the subcontinent.
  • The ancient Greeks called the people living across the Indus River Indo, meaning "people of the Indus".
  • Later, the Persians and Arabs also used the term Hind or Hindustan to refer to the Indus lands.
  • Europeans adopted the name India from these sources and it became the official name of the country after British colonial rule.

Constituent Assembly debates regarding Bharat and India:

  • This debate regarding the name of the country is not new. Even in the year 1949, when the Constitution was being drafted by the Constituent Assembly, there was disagreement regarding the name of the country.
  • Some members felt that the word "India" was reminiscent of colonial oppression and demanded that "Bharat" be given priority in official documents.
  • Seth Govind Das of Jabalpur advocated placing "Bharat" above "India" and emphasized that Bharat was only the earlier English translation.
  • “Hari Vishnu Kamath cited the Irish Constitution, which changed the name of the country upon gaining independence, as an example of the use of “Bharat”.
  • Hargobind Pant argued that people wanted the name "Bharatvarsha" and rejected the word "India" given by foreign rulers.

Bharat and India: Constitutional Perspective

  • Article 1 of the Indian Constitution states that India will be a 'Union of States' instead of a 'Group of States'.
  • The Preamble of the Indian Constitution begins with 'We the people of India', but the Hindi version uses "Bharat" instead of 'India', indicating reciprocity.
  • Additionally, some government institutions, such as the Indian Railways, and the Reserve Bank of India, already have Hindi versions that include 'Bharatiya'.
  • Some members of the Constituent Assembly advised that its traditional name (Bharat) be retained while some advocated the modern name (India).
  • In this way, both the names India which is Bharat have been accepted in the Constitution.

Need for Constitutional Amendment:

  • The Government of India will have to present a bill in the Parliament to change the name of the country from India to Bharat.
  • The government will need a special majority in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha houses to amend Article 1 of Part 1 of the Constitution.
  • After getting a special majority, the Supreme Court, which is the guardian of the Constitution, will give a decision on changing the name of the country to Bharat in case there is a change in the basic structure of the Constitution or not.
  • Supreme Court's reasoning behind changing the name:
  • Under 'the basic structure of the Constitution should not be changed', the Supreme Court has twice rejected the petition to change the name of 'India' to 'Bharat' in the year 2016 and again in the year 2020, because "Bharat" and "India“ both the names are mentioned in the Constitution.

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Mains Exam Question

Review the major implications of the Bharat vs India dispute.