Hypocrites often get offended by the truth. Truth tastes bad, is hard to digest and hence, mostly avoided. But does it mean that we bury our head in sand? For a nation a name is more than a mere monicker or a simple designation, it carries with itself all the hopes, aspirations, history, culture, joys, sorrows and the very ethos of a country. And what name did the party which donated us independence single-handedly give us? A name with which no post British-advent Bharatiya can relate to; a name which simply reminds us of our colonial past. Perhaps this done to forever chain the hopes and aspirations of an entire nation to the shackles of a colonial name.
As luck would have it a ‘kisaan’ (farmer) had filed a writ before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India to rename India as Bharat so that we may finally break free of shackles of a colonial name. The leftists who are challenging the said move, to the extent of even calling it foolish are even going on to blatantly lie by saying that the said petition was dismissed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court whereas the Court has disposed of the said Writ by it’s order dated 03/06/2020 by observing: “The present petition is directed to be treated as a representation and may be considered by the appropriate Ministries. The writ petition is disposed of accordingly.”
Thus, the Court has asked the legislature to look into the said matter as the Courts do not have power to bring about Constitutional Amendments by way of additions to it. Court at most can delete certain provisions if they are opposed to the “Basic Structure of the Constitution” [Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala, (1973) 4 SCC 225 : AIR 1973 SC 1461]. Now let’s hope that the Modi government respects the sentiments of us Bharatiya and adopts the name Bharat for all legal intents and purposes.
As regards those who wish to retain the name legal name India – perhaps they take pride in reminding themselves of their colonial time, the nostalgia must be too much for them to overcome; or maybe they don’t want us Bharatiya to feel pride in us. As if the Aryan Invasion Theory or Partition was not enough they even don’t want us to realise with our true and ancient name.
Legally speaking, the Article 1 of the Constitution of India says: “(1) India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.” Even the exalted Freedom giving party could not totally override the name Bharat. They too had to mention it. However, quite intelligently they kept the colonial name India while acknowledging that the true name of this great nation is and in fact was Bharat.
Before someone may try to sidetrack the debate with arguments of language, as to whether this is an attempt to impose Hindi on all, let this Bharatiya clarify for you: the question is here not whether I chose to spell it as Bharat or भारत i.e. in English or हिन्दी or for that matter in any language. Question is that I DESERVE the right to call it Bharat!
You see, historically speaking our ancestors never realised themselves from the name of India or Indians. If the history of it is traced, “India” name is loosely based on the fact that it was a kingdom around the Indus (सिंधु) River. The name Sindhu got latinized to Indus River, and land around it as Indica (alt. Indika).
The first mentioning of it is found in the work of Greek historians (such as Megasthenes) who were accompanying Alexander during his conquests. It must be borne in mind that Alexander could never enter Bharat’s mainland as he only won over a small mountainous kingdom of Raja Puru and Gandhar (present day Afghanistan & parts of Pakistan). Thus, like how to a kid a white ball is all what is Moon, the same way for the Greeks all what was land around Indus river was India. Later on this name of India was adopted by Arabics and subsequently by English too. In fact as per no Mughal period account too was the name India ever used to describe this glorious land.
Furthermore, to buttress the argument of Bharat over India; tell me, we used to call English as अंग्रेज़ but that doesn’t mean they named their country Angrez? They gave to themselves a name selected by their ancestors. Same thing with Greece too. We called it यूनान, but that doesn’t mean they named their country Yunan. When other self-respecting nations are not knowing themselves by the name given to them by foreigners, then why should proud Gaurav Chaubey and all proud Bharatiyajan give ourselves a name by which foreigners recognised us?
Wouldn’t it sound absurd and disrespectful to you if you’re not addressed by the name given to you by your parents (ancestors) but by those who were your neighbors and who at one point occupied your home? That is the debate. Let us all stand united and further the movement to reclaim our great name, associated with which is the rich culture, history and ethos of our ancestors. Now that the matter rests with the Legislature (Ministries), let us lobby and campaign to fix the error (malice?) of our exalted Freedom Givers in not naming us Bharat.
