Should India be changed to Bharat, a debate between RCB’s Satellite Club and Rotaractors, moderated by PE Satyan Israni
Should India be changed to Bharat, a debate between RCB’s Satellite Club and Rotaractors, moderated by PE Satyan Israni
Last Tuesday, PE Satyan Israni moderated a debate between Rotary Club of Bombay and RCB’s Satellite Club on whether India’s name should be changed to Bharat. In his introductory remarks, PE Satyan
pointed out that the issue emerged when the sitting government expressed a desire to use Bharat during the G20. In addition, he said, the NCERT team responsible for the school syllabus has already proposed changing the name to Bharat in textbooks. However, it’s still in the early stages, and public opinions are being collected. PE Satyan then pointed out potential consequences, such as tongue twisters for institutions like IIT becoming Bharatiya Prodyogiki Sansthan. The humorous aspect of the change was highlighted, including the possibility of BITS Pilani being happy if IIT becomes BIT.
This is not merely just a matter of nomenclature, it’s a reflection of our cultural heritage, national
pride and a step towards embracing our history. Article 1 of the Indian Constitution begins with
the words: “India, that is Bharat, shall be a union of states.” The name India is an anglicisation
of the Sanskrit word for the Indus River given to us during the British colonisation. When
India gained independence from the British, the framers of the Indian Constitution decided to use
both Bharat and India in the Constitution. Over the years, India has been used more commonly,
especially in an international context.
Historically, Bharat has been used in Indian scriptures and texts for centuries, such as in the
Mahabharata. It reflects an important part of India’s cultural and linguistic identity. It evokes a
sense of heritage and tradition. By adopting Bharat as our official name, we would be honouring our
roots and affirming our commitment to preserving our cultural legacy. But beyond the historical
significance, changing the name to Bharat would also carry symbolic weight.
It signifies a break from the colonial legacy, and it is a reclamation of our identity. The name India was
bestowed upon us during the British colonial era. Embracing the name Bharat would be a statement
of pride for us, a way to assert our cultural identity on a world stage. It’s an opportunity to redefine
how the world perceives us, not just as a developing country, but as a dynamic and culturally rich society.
We would also be joining many other nations who have done the same thing.
Turkey changed its name to Turkiye in an effort to represent its cultural values in the best way. Burma
renamed itself to Myanmar and renamed some cities such as Rangoon to Yangon to distance itself
from British Burma and its colonial history.
We believe that India should follow suit and rename itself as Bharat. Let us rename ourselves
from incredible India to Behatirin Bharat.
Against Bharat, Speaker 2
I just want to ask all of you a very simple question.When I say imagine the word India, a picture, an
icon, anything, what comes to your mind? I’ll give you five seconds. It can be the iconic Taj Mahal where there are love stories built, or it can be the yoga gurus that teach us that have gone global. It can be the IT companies that have gone global, that have taken India to the world and opened offices everywhere. India is not just a name right now; it is a legacy. Anywhere you go in the world, India is not just known as a country, it is known as the largest democracy to exist and that is not an opinion, it is a fact.
Yes, we would like to connect to our ancient culture, but that does not mean that we forget the future. Firstly, both the names are there in the Constitution. This debate was settled in the 1950 when it was already decided both the names shall be used. As she rightly pointed out, India has been used more commonly and that has created a brand for India.
There will be global repercussions for changing the name. Leave the logistics for us, changing passports
and changing names and everything. But what about renegotiating agreements like the LSE agreement
with China? Those discussions will have to be done again and those are very complex decisions. You
cannot just go and do all of it again because of a name change. Renaming India as Bharat might be
a disconnect with the non-Hindu people who do not feel connected to Bharat because everybody
can call India as their home. You are an Indian, I am an Indian, Jai Hind. India it was, India it is and
India it will remain.
For Bharat, Speaker 3
The change will take a little time, but we can do it in phases. Like, in the first phase, we can stop
issuing new documents in the name of India. We can issue them in the name of Bharat, Government
of Bharat. In the second phase, we can take the new documents, new domains like .bhrt. And in the third phase, we can issue currency in the name of Bharat, and reissue all the old documents in the name of Bharat instead of India. Because the word India does not have any literal meaning, Bharat is an emotion.
Bharat is derived from the great emperor Bharata and it is also mentioned in the Vishnu Purana; the
land which extends from the sea to the north is called Bharat or Bharatvarsha.
In 2014, Czech Republic President Milos Zeman recommended the wider official use of Czechia and
on April 14th, 2016, the government agreed to make Czechia the official short name. The new name was
approved by the Czech cabinet on May 2nd, 2016 and registered on July 5th, 2016. And they slowly
and gradually made it official. The Czech Football Association announced the adoption of the name
SESCO and Czechia on May 24th, 2022. In August 2022, the United Nations list of member states was
updated to Czechia and the exception of keeping the long form of the name on the country plates
was dropped. On November 1st, 2022, the Olympic Committee requested the International Olympic
Committee and European Olympic Committee to enter the name Czechia into the database of
countries for sports competition. Slowly and gradually, we can change our name from
India to Bharat.
Against Bharat, Speaker 4
India is an emotion for all of us; and there is no point in saying that India does not have any meaning or
that all documents would be issued under name Bharat. What about the previous documents issued
under India? Don’t you think that give rise to more criminal activities because criminals can make
new documents under India or Bharat because everybody is going to accept both?
We all went through that Rs 2000 note ban phase which was so painful, people standing in lines… so
how is changing India to Bharat going to be helpful for us common people because India is not a country
of only Hindus, but we are a diverse cultural people. Bharat is a Hindi word and Hindus usually speak
Hindi, so why are we debating on changing India to Bharat? Are we minoritising every other religion
that has been part of India?
For Bharat, Speaker 5
I would respectfully like to disagree with my fellow panellist’s views on the word Bharat. Just right
now, we all sung the National Anthem which is something that binds us together; irrespective of
religion or background, every Indian will sing it.
And, in that Anthem, it has always been referred to as Bharat. Bharat is a Sanskrit word. Sanskrit has been the root of many languages spoken across India including from the 20 plus national languages approved and officiated in the Constitution. As my fellow panellists pointed out, it’s not going to
be an overnight change. The Czech Republic took 10 years, and they’re still changing it. Similarly, it
is going to take time for us. It’s not something that has to be done overnight, but it’s something that
can be phased out, and gradually implemented.
And, we can’t ignore the impact it has on our culture, our identity, and that sense of patriotism
and power that the word Bharat holds. When you say Bharat, it has a very powerful connotation.
Changing to the word Bharat is going to be a step towards reclaiming our rich heritage. Bharat was
used before the British came. Bharat was one of the terms used to describe India, greater India, which
also included Pakistan at that time. In terms of religion, in terms of everything, it has
been widely accepted by our citizens across caste, religion, income brackets. And, there’s something
that is always said with pride, Mera Bharat Mahan.
Against Bharat, Speaker 6
As a fellow panellist said a few minutes ago, if you want to change the country’s name from India
to Bharat, there’s the problem of changing all the documents, petitions or any agreements of the
country. Someone suggested we do it in phases. It would cost a lot of money and, as a citizen of India,
I would want that money to be put into solving problems like inflation and poverty, rather than in
changing the name of the country. After 75 years of Independence and, after being rejected twice, this
petition has been raised twice before and rejected as well, so I don’t think there’s any problem in
continuing the name India.
Also, India has been globally recognised as India for a long time, and it is starting to become a brand
amongst other countries. As I mentioned before, the process of changing India to Bharat will cost
a lot of administrative hassles in the change to passports, Aadhar cards, maps, embassies, there are
n number of things to name as of now. So, I still think it would be great if we continue
with the name India.
For Bharat, Speaker 7
Firstly, Mohit, will you like it if I cannot pronounce your name and I keep calling you Rohit, Rohit,
Rohit, and just because I called you that, everybody else starts calling him Rohit. Are you okay with
that? Your original name that your parents gave you, your loved ones gave you, being changed?
Similarly, will we like it if Bharat, the name that has been in India, the name that has been with us for more than 5,000 years, will we like it if it’s just changed by some outsider? Somebody that’s not even ours. The British have left us but we still want to hold on to their names. Why? We changed Bombay to
Mumbai, Calcutta to Kolkata. Why not India to Bharat? Mumbai is a good name. It looks very wow.
Mumbai is a city, right? The city we all love, we all live in. Again, we are not talking about Mumbai.
Back to the topic.
And, as your last contestant just said that it will cost a lot of money… Change is tough. Obviously, it will
take time. It won’t happen in the snap of a finger, right? It requires time and as citizens of India we
must cooperate with something that a government is doing for us for our own cultural heritage.
Bharat has been used for 5,000 years. There were Mughals that time. So, there is no question of
religious symbolism. And the Vishnupuranas, there is no Indus river mentioned. It’s Sindhu. Just
because the Britishers could not pronounce it, they named it Indus. And, thus, we have India. It’s just
people coming to us, throwing our name and we’re catching it. Yes, yes, we’ll take that. No, we have to
stop doing that. We have to decide for ourselves, right?
Aatmanirbhar Bharat. We got through COVID together. We got through demonetisation together.
We got through the 1983 World Cup together. We got through this World Cup together. We got
through the freedom struggle together. Then why not this? If our country is doing something for us,
we should surely cooperate with them.
Against Bharat, Speaker 8
India’s name should be India as it has been so since many years. Like, in the UN, and everywhere you
go, India has a recognition of its own. In the World Cup this time, ICC, it was India. In 5000 years,
it has never solely been Bharat, like you said. The Mughals and Daulats – invaders – they never called
it Bharat. So, changing it to Bharat will require a lot of finance.
The money can be used for various issues right now, because that’s the need of the hour and changing
the name won’t really matter. Our generation, personally, won’t care if the name changes from
India to Bharat. Some of the people don’t even care about ancient history or whatever is happening; we
are more concerned about our personal life and all. India has a recognition and India will be India.
PE Satyan Israni Both teams have made great points. It’s time that they are grilled about what they think. I’m sure all of you have questions and let’s be fair to both the teams and ask them equally. Let’s not hammer only one team, let’s hammer both of them equally.
Rtn. Mudit Jain
Just a brief comment. Why has this idea come into being? Because our prime minister wanted to change India to Bharat? It has got politicised because the opposition alliance are calling themselves the India Alliance. Before that, there was no Bharat. So that’s the preface to it. So, I’ll say then, why not as a proud Indian enlightened citizen, call it Hindustan. You can call it anything.
Then change the name of Mount Everest to some Indian name. It was the Indus River. Sindhu River
became Indus. Go on changing everything. Let us do productive work rather than kind of go on name
changing. Changing Bombay to Mumbai has not changed Mumbai. So, I would like PE Satyan’s view
on this.
PE Satyan
If you are to personally ask me, I will go by what William Shakespeare said. What’s in a name? A
rose is just as sweet with any other name. But I would rather that the debaters give their thoughts.
So if you have a question for them.
Conclusion for Bharat
To sum up the stance of those who support the name change to Bharat, when we say Bharat, the
word Bharat comes with a legacy. In Sanskrit, Bharat refers to a seeker of knowledge. India is
the homeland of the motherland of the land of knowledge. We are the land and the home of Nalanda University. We are the home of scientists and scholars and the centre of spiritual growth and
significance.
Firstly, we are not renaming the country; we are reclaiming its identity. It is not renaming, it is
reclaiming. And, of course, non-Hindu citizens existed back then; a Hindu isn’t just somebody
who believes in God or is a worshipper of God. Somebody who does not believe in God is a Hindu.
Somebody who believes in the non-existence of everything is a Hindu. Somebody who thinks the
world is a myth is a Hindu. Somebody who thinks this is just science at all is also a Hindu, right?
All of that comes under the aspect of Hinduism.
So, when Hinduism in itself is so welcoming and so broad, it has always been home and a welcoming
platform to all other religions, of course, right? When we say the name India, India came in
because invaders couldn’t pronounce the name Sindhu, right? The reverse Sindhu, the S could not
be pronounced by invaders from the Greek, from Prussia with the background of Urdu. That’s how
Sindhu became Hindu and thus came to India, right? When we speak of Bharat, you realise the
depth of the name in itself. You asked, what do I see when I see Bharat? I see Akhand Bharat. I see
people, I see places, I do not see borders. But when I see India, I see a Partition, I see violence, and I see
200 years of colonisation.
When it comes to a name change, the money part, the name change will result in increased workload. So, to do that increased work, you need more people. When you employ more people, it creates employment opportunities. Currently, in our country, we also give out a lot of free goods and services to attract votes, correct, the budget of which goes approximately to Rs 1,300 crore. The budget in the process of a name change would be around Rs 1,400 to 500 crores.
So, rather than giving out free goods and services attract votes, why not devote that money into good
use and put it elsewhere in the name change? I don’t think the finances would be an issue. It’s just that
you have to stop giving out things for free to earn things and get people in your bag, but to devote
it to good work. And that work too is creating employment because it’s going to require a lot of
more people and a lot of more manpower to get things to function, which will create employment
and get funds.
When it comes to generations, I don’t think the
perspective that the coming generations won’t care
about history and culture comes into picture here.
Be it a citizen who is 75 or be it a citizen who is 7, the
patriotism shall remain, and the patriotism should
remain with its history, its culture, its awareness.
When we speak of the existence of the name India
and all of the organisations and names that we
have, tell me how long has India been there for?
200 years of British colonisation? 75 years of postIndependence, correct? The United Nations, all
of the other governing bodies that we look at for
recognition, how long have they been there for? 20
years, 50 years, 70 years? How long has Bharat been
there for? Centuries and ages and ages. So, is Bharat more in the field or is the UN more
in the field? Is the BCCI more in the field? And it’s
just about a name, right? So now the question that
arises here is, was Bharat before or UN before? So,
what is the importance of the recognition of the
UN or BCCI to what is older than them? Correct?
Because these institutions, these platforms are
formed by us, by the nations.
Yes, now we can move on with the questions in case
anybody has any others.
Conclusion against Bharat
Before I start with my conclusion, I would just like
to say if our current sitting government’s motion of
changing India’s name to Bharat had been passed,
we would have not been here right now. Because
the place we’re sitting in, it’s called the Indian
Merchants Chamber. In the name change, the
paper change, this entire place would have been
shut down for let’s say years and I don’t think it
would have been possible for us to be here.
To do a very short conclusion, we, yes, I, deeply
connect with my history. I deeply connect with the
ancient culture that India and Bharat have. I have
no problem referring to myself as Bharatiya.
But that is not the issue that we’re debating right
now. It’s about what current India is. It’s about what
the future is going to be. I looked up the population
of India just before entering the debate, it is 140.7
crores out of which 20% are minorities, and many
are NRIs. People have gone all over the world and
identified themselves as Indians.
We have an identity around the entire world. Let it
be any country, let it be any state, let it be any invader
who has come to us, named us. We have gone back
to them and told them we are Indians, deal with it,
and we have surpassed them in every single point.
Global companies, global leaders, global CEOs,
they are all of Indian origin. They all feel patriotism
towards India. It’s not about whether you feel
patriotic by being called Bharatiya or Indian, it’s
the country that you feel the patriotism for not the
name. It has been continuously pointed out by my
team, India has been a brand. The time that you’re
talking about, 5,000 years ago, there were no such
things.
You say 5,000 years it’s been Bharat. Right now,
200 plus 75, 275, it’s India. So, why should we
not do Bharat again? Okay, there were those wire
telephones for 150 years, and we have had mobile
phones for 25 years. But okay, come on, wire
telephones for 150 years, so why not go back to the
wire telephones? It’s the same debate.
You are progressing and you don’t have to come
down. I am not saying Bharat is a demotion or
anything like that. I call myself a proud Bharatiyan.
But that does not mean that we have to change
things the way they are. You just said Rs 1,400-
1,500 crores, like it’s a very small deal. And, we
have to stop giving free things to people. But these
people really need it, Tthey cannot live without it.
These 1,400 crores, 1,500 crores can be put in to give
more free things. And it’s not free. It’s a necessity of
life. They get houses, they get clothes, they get basic
ration, as we call it. They get basic necessities. It’s not that we’re giving out iPhones to them for free.
ROTARIANS WEIGH IN
• I think we are discussing this particular issue a
little prematurely. The reason being the entire
discussion about Bharat and India started
because of the formation of the new government
of NDA. Had it not been there probably we
would not have been discussing this today. Now
after seeing the results of last Sunday of the five
states, I feel that we should wait till 2024 May and perhaps if India dismantles itself completely, we may not need this discussion thereafter.
• We’ve been discussing India, Bharat etc. Are there not more important things to be placed before India and Bharat? Which is, the moment you ask a guy, wherever, whichever part of the world you go, whether he says I’m an Indian or a Bharati, the next question is are you a Punjabi or are you a Parsi? Why can’t we give up that and first have our patriotism come to the point that I am an Indian. Not a Gujarati, not a Marwadi or whatever. I am an Indian first. That’s my point.
• My question to both the groups is why can’t we have both names, you know, London, Laundre,
Milan, Milano, Rome, Roma. Our official documents have both names. What I would suggest to both the groups is why not promote both the names? I mean we can get a kind of a synergy benefit rather than either or kind of a scenario. I would like your views on that.
• Sir, as you very well pointed out, where there is Bharat, there is India? Because it’s the same thing and personally I don’t mind calling it both but our topic for the debate allowed us to ote for only one. So I’m really sorry.
• Yes, the topic of the debate was India or Bharat.
We already refer to them as both but we should not just go through the trouble of doing the name change because I just have this counter. She gave this very fun example of people calling me Rohit Rohit Rohit by mistake. What if I changed my name? I was born 18 years ago
.
My name has been Mohit for 18 years. Now I changed my name officially to Rohit. Imagine the amount of confusion that will create among all the people I know. Is that guy Rohit? Is that guy Mohit? When did this happen? What did this happen? Why is this happening? What is wrong with him? Everything. And this is just me and a very small amount of people I know in the limited world I know. India is global, India is all over and India it is.
• Just one thing just to help you. Very important, I think there should be a debate as we are a democracy and our Constitution gives us a choice to call India or Bharat. So as a democracy that right should not be taken away from us. I feel that way. And I shudder to imagine Arnab saying “Bharat wants to know.” You know. So let us all decide. It’s not important that it’s India or Bharat. A democracy should give you your right and you should decide what you want to say. And the debate should be not to take away our democratic rights. That’s what I feel.
• Sir just said that Rome is also called Roma. But they gave their name to themselves. India was
given by Britishers. We gave ourselves a name of Bharat. We accept that we are Bharatiya. Not Bharatiyans.
• So, one idea, if we want to keep both the names, we can at least prioritise the name Bharat over India. And the reason why we believe in this so strongly is because we think about it. This name was given to us by other people. If we prioritise the name Bharat, we are reclaiming our cultural identity, our history. And we are frankly becoming the nation that we once were. Our own independent nation. Which is why we definitely should do it. And if not the name change, we should at least prioritise Bharat before India.
Rtn. Natasha Treasurywala
So, your entire argument is predicated on two things if I am right. You are saying that if we rename ourselves Bharat then we have sort of wiped out the bad news of demonetisation, we have wiped out colonisation because we’ve renamed ourselves.
So, therefore, now India is free of colonisation, free of demonetisation, free of all the bad things that happened. It’s all gone because we’ve renamed ourselves Bharat. Is that correct? And the second part is you all are saying it’s linked to a heritage. So are you saying that if I rename Bharat, till now we had no heritage, but now that we have renamed ourselves Bharat, now we will have a good heritage and we will have that patriotism, etc. which we don’t have today. Are you saying we don’t have it today?
Answer: No, that is not the point. We’re just trying to say that Bharat as a name would be a way to honour all the history of India that was there before the colonisation, so all the literature, the scriptures, everything that was written. It doesn’t wipe out the demonetisation, it doesn’t wipe out the history of India or anything that’s happened while the name has been India.
Of course, that’s a part of our history and that matters, but we want to make it clear that that is not only what India is, we have so much more than that. And by reclaiming the name Bharat and reclaiming our roots, we’re trying to say that we want to get back on track to be a wonderful nation that is not just being defined by the colonisation of British and India, we have so much more than that and it’s time to show that to the world.
PP Haresh Jagtiani
I’m a bit appalled at the fact that you should suddenly say that there’s an upsurge of patriotism in us because we call ourselves Bharatiya in the name of Bharat. Nothing could be more superficial than that. For instance, I don’t feel like an alien because you call yourself Bharat. I am an Indian, neither do I feel extra patriotic because you called me Bharat. It’s like you said correctly, what’s in a name? It’s just now when we go abroad, they find it difficult to pronounce Indian names. I’m often called Harry, not that I disapprove of it. I probably prefer Haresh or Prakash is called Piki. Or for that matter, if you remember when Donald Trump came here, he had a rough time saying Swami Vivekananda. I dare say he’ll refer to him as Vicky. But does that mean it diminishes his wealth of knowledge on spiritualism merely because he’s a Vicky and not Vivekananda? Therefore, this superficiality in the name, I think there is no place in today’s modern India. That’s my view.
Thank you.
PE Satyan
I think he has made great points and to an extent, I agree. I’ve been in the courts for more than 20 years and they have changed my gender, my community, my religion. Until today, the court officials don’t know what my surname is. They keep referring to me as Irani. But you carry on, you do your work. You don’t really get bothered by it. But the point also is that do we really need to get so upset if we are called Bharat, which is also our name in the Constitution, which has been traditionally there for us. I mean, what is wrong in calling ourselves Bhartiya or Indian? I mean, why should all of us suddenly have a knee-jerk impulsive take to it? But this is what the politicians ace in doing. You know, they get the people involved in all nonsensical debates when actually the real issues are kept aside, and they can do whatever they do.
So, but be that as it may, I think we had a good exchange of thoughts. I don’t think we should sit and vote for which particular proposition works. In a democracy, I think you can vote, but then you need to protect the minority as well. That’s why I had one extra speaker for them.