In a recent revelation, a G20 dinner invitation stirred controversy by mentioning the ‘President of Bharat,’ igniting speculation that India might undergo a name change to ‘Bharat’ during an upcoming special parliamentary session. Yet, this isn’t the inaugural instance of this term being employed in official documents.
In August, Prime Minister Narendra Modi graced the 15th BRICS Summit in South Africa and embarked on a visit to Greece. The official communication for these trips, occurring from August 22 to 25, consistently referred to him as the ‘Prime Minister of Bharat.’
Furthermore, as the G20 Leaders’ Summit approaches in the national capital, Indian officials’ identity cards are set to bear the designation ‘Bharat official,’ rather than the traditional ‘Indian official.’
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to partake in the 20th Asean India Summit and the 18th East Asia Summit in Indonesia on September 6-7. In the lead-up to this, the pre-visit documents identified him as the ‘Prime Minister of Bharat.’
This recent development has stirred political discourse, with the Opposition accusing the Modi administration of intending to rebrand the nation as ‘Bharat’ exclusively, discarding ‘India.’ Worth noting is Article 1 of the Indian Constitution, which asserts, “India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.”
While the Indian Constitution currently acknowledges the nation as “India, that is Bharat,” there’s mounting speculation, as a special parliamentary session commences on September 18, that a constitutional amendment may seek to simplify the appellation to ‘Bharat.’
