'Bharat' replaces India in nameplate
The controversy stems from President Murmu’s invitation to the leaders attending the G20 Summit to dinner, which was changed to include India rather than Bharat.
The G20 Summit’s opening speech was given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. It was interesting to note that the nameplate in front of the prime minister said “Bharat” rather than “India.”
Dinner Invite to foreign delegates
This comes days after a massive uproar erupted over President Droupadi Murmu’s invitation to a dinner for foreign leaders attending the G20 Summit this weekend, which changed India’s name from Bharat to India.
According to a representative for the international organisation, the UN would change India’s name to Bharat in UN records once New Delhi has completed all necessary procedures.
Chief spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric stated, “When India completes the paperwork to change the name, they will contact us and we will change the name at the UN (records).
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Parliament special session
The debate sparked speculation that a change of name would be addressed and approved during the upcoming special session of Parliament, the agenda of which has not yet been made public. While BJP members who were in power argued that India should be renamed after Bharat, opposition leaders dismissed the idea as a diversion because “Bharat” is already listed in the constitution.
But on Wednesday, Modi urged his fellow ministers to stay out of the political controversy over the name “Bharat” because that was the nation’s original name.
Preamble of India
We, the people of India… is the first phrase in the preamble of the English version of the constitution, and “India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States” is the second.
Except for the section identifying the names of the country, the constitution replaces India with Bharat anywhere it appears in Hindi. This section reads, “Bharat, that is India, shall be a Union of States.”
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A constitutional amendment would be necessary to change India’s name to just Bharat, and both houses of parliament would need to approve it by a two-thirds majority.
