Changing India to Bharat! Hindu nationalists push ‘Bharat’ as country’s name

The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has referred to India as “Bharat” in invites for a dinner party at the upcoming G-20 Summit in New Delhi, a move that has sparked controversy. The word is the Hindi name for India, and critics say its use is the latest sign of a nationalist push amid a banner year for the country.

India is now the world’s most populous nation and is the fastest growing major economy. Beyond hosting the annual G-20 Summit this year, which runs from Sept. 9 to 10, the country also recently completed a historic moon landing.

Two months ago, the alliance of opposition parties named themselves “INDIA” ahead of the Spring 2024 Indian general election, so the focus on rebranding to the name Bharat may also be partly motivated by that, says Ravinder Kaur, a historian of contemporary India.

“The word ‘India’ is an abuse given to us by the British, whereas the word ‘Bharat’ is a symbol of our culture,” Harnath Singh Yadav, a BJP politician, told Indian broadcaster ANI.

Meanwhile, former India cricket star Virender Sehwag urged the sport’s officials to use Bharat on players’ shirts during the Men’s Cricket World Cup, which will be held in India this year.

Bharat is an ancient Sanskrit word which many historians believe dates back to early Hindu texts. The word also means India in Hindi.

The change in nomenclature is backed by officials of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. They argue that the name India was introduced by British colonials and is a “symbol of slavery.” The British ruled India for about 200 years until the country gained independence in 1947.

“Another blow to slavery mentality,” the top elected official of Uttarakhand state, Pushkar Singh Dhami, said on X, formerly known as Twitter. Dhami, who is a leader of Modi's governing party, shared the dinner invitation sent to G20 guests in his post.

Changing the formal names of cities and countries has a long, politically fraught history.

Some countries have sought to shed names given by colonial rulers, sometimes upon gaining independence, and in other cases later in their history. In 2018, absolute monarch King Mswati III changed the name of his country from Swaziland to Eswatini, a name derived from the local language.

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Sarah H

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