Is there any Dispute over state names at the G20 summit: Bharat instead of India?
An official invitation to dinner at the G20 summit says “Bharat” instead of “India”. The opposition fears a gradual renaming of the state – in line with the Hindu nationalist agenda of Prime Minister Modi’s government.
“Mother India” (“Bharat mata “), India’s Prime Minister shouts in Hindi to a group of Indians abroad during a state visit a few weeks ago. And they answer: “Yes, long live her”. “Bharat” is the other name for India alongside “India”. It is mentioned at the beginning of the Indian Constitution, and when people converse in Hindi, they often use Bharat instead of India.
“Whether it is India or Bharat – we are proud of both names,” says Radharanan Das of the Hare Krishna movement. “But it’s very unfortunate when you develop such a dislike and hatred for our country’s name.”
A new name as part of the political agenda?
The ruling Hindu nationalists actually hated the country’s name “India,” according to representatives of religious minorities and the opposition. The Hindi word “Bharat” comes from a mythological figure from Hinduism. It is now being misused for a Hindu nationalist agenda – hence the violent reactions.
According to the invitation, the “President of Bharat” and not the “President of India” is inviting people to the state dinner at the G20 summit on Saturday – a completely new designation for the head of state, in this case President Draupadi Murmu. MP Gaurav Gogoi from the Congress party is stunned: “I’m really at a loss for words. This is unbelievable. I hope that the Supreme Court of India will intervene. This is about dividing. This is very, very sad.”
Hindus see country names as historically burdened
Why suddenly “Bharat”? If you ask politicians from the ruling Hindu nationalists from the BJP party, it quickly becomes clear: it’s about more than the minor change in the G20 invitation. “It was only the invaders and others who came to this wonderful country and gave it a different name,” Meenakshi Lekhi, Minister of State at the Ministry of External Affairs. “And this other name became the most common. But there is nothing wrong with taking back our heritage. All the shackles of slavery, all the shackles that limit us in our tradition and culture, must be broken.”
“It should have always been this name”
Swaminathan Gurumurthy is the ideologue of the radical Hindu RSS, a cadre organization close to the ruling party and often described as fascist. He also supports the new name. He said on India Today television: “India was wrongly called India. It was originally Bharat. That’s why it should have always been that name, everywhere in the constitution. Then it became a different name. I don’t know why. Whatever “The fathers of the constitution thought about it, they did it. But we have already amended the constitution four hundred times.”
The Hindu nationalists lack the necessary majority Required to change the constitution:
The suspicion of the opponents of a name change: The first step is to be taken to rename India under the spotlight of the G20 summit, so to speak under the eyes of the heads of state and government. The Hindu nationalists lack the necessary majority to change the constitution. But one thing is clear: the dispute over the country’s name is not one of the usual political controversies in Indian domestic politics. It’s about fundamentals – and it will continue after the G20 summit.
Read More: G20 meeting in India: The big Modi show
