Debate about name change
Will India be called “Bharat” in the future? – fuss about G20 invitation
The flag of India: Some radical Hindus are bothered by the country’s name. photo
© Sri Loganathan/ZUMA/dpa
A dinner invitation for the G20 summit in New Delhi at the weekend sparks controversy. India is officially called “Bharat” in it – which raises the question of whether the country wants to change its name.
In the formal invitation to the leaders of the Group of Great Economic Powers (G20) meeting in New Delhi over the weekend, the host, President Draupadi Murmu, is referred to not as the President of India but as the “President of Bharat”, as reported by the media. “Bharat” is an old Sanskrit word for India, which is used as a synonym in the constitution, for example, and is also frequently used among the population.
Radical Hindus criticize country names
Some radical Hindus in the country are bothered by the official country name India. They argue that it was popularized by the British colonizers and is therefore a symbol of slavery. According to ancient Hindu scriptures from a time before Christ, “Bharat” was the name of a legendary king who is said to have lived in what is now India.
His descendants are said to live in a land called “Bharatvarsha” (Land of Bharat). Just recently, the head of the Hindu nationalist organization RSS, which is close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling BJP party, also called for the country’s name to be changed to “Bharat”.
Opposition politicians questioned the name change
Modi’s government is currently trying in general to distance itself from the colonial past and to focus on national pride. Being Indian is often equated with being Hindu by nationalists in predominantly Hindu but multi-religious India. Many ruling party officials also welcomed the use of the term “Bharat” in the G20 invitation to the two-day summit, which begins on Saturday. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is also traveling to New Delhi.
Opposition politicians, on the other hand, questioned the considerations for a possible name change. The name India is internationally recognized and has become a brand, they say. The director of the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation in India, Adrian Haack, also said: “When the state was founded, however, a conscious decision was made to use the name India, since it was internationally established – this argument is all the more valid today, which is why critics of the project question proportionality.”
In addition, several opposition parties had recently united to form a coalition called INDIA (short for Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) to position themselves against the ruling party. Modi has been Prime Minister of India since 2014. A new parliament will be elected in spring 2024. Modi is expected to seek re-election. Observers suspect that the use of the word “Bharat” in the official letter is primarily aimed at the local audience.
India not the first country
Elias Marini Schäfer from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in India also emphasizes that not only the current Hindu nationalist ruling party, but also the previously dominant Congress Party has already renamed cities. The former Bangalore has been officially called Bangaluru since 2014. “British colonial history should be banned from city names,” said Marini Schäfer. “Now this is being attempted by the BJP for the first time at international level.”
Should India actually change its name in the future, it would not be the first country to do so to move away from its colonial past. Today’s Sri Lanka was previously called Ceylon – and Thailand used to be called Siam.
Other countries also had other reasons for the name change: Turkey, for example, submitted a name change to the United Nations last year in order to be called Türkiye in English instead of Turkey – partly because “Turkey” means turkey in English. And Czechia opted for the less cumbersome English-speaking Czechia instead of Czech Republic in 2016.