India to be renamed 'Bharat'? Govt may bring a resolution in Parliament's special session

The Narendra Modi-led BJP government is likely to bring a resolution for changing India's official name to 'Bharat' during the special September 18-22 session of Parliament.  Rashtrapati Bhawan has sent out an invite for a G20 dinner on Sept 9th in the name of 'President of Bharat' instead of the usual 'President of India'.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also confirmed that the official G20 dinner invitations from the Indian President have been sent under the name of 'President of Bharat' instead of the usual 'President of India'. Now, Article 1 in the Constitution can read: “Bharat, that was India, shall be a Union of States.” But now even this “Union of States” is under assault," Ramesh said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). 

BJP Leaders coming out in support of 'Bharat':

• "Our country is 'Bharat', there should be no doubt about this. Congress has a problem with everything," said Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on the debate over the word 'India'.
• Multiple BJP leaders including Assam chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, on Tuesday, came out in support of the renaming the country 'Bharat'.
• BJP Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Bansal also pitched the proposal during the recently concluded monsoon session in the Upper House, saying that the name 'India' is a symbol of "colonial slavery" and "should be removed from the Constitution".
• RSS chief, during his address in Guwahati, had also said that the name Bharat has been continuing since ancient times and must be taken forward.  "The name of our country has been Bharat for ages. Whatever may be the language, the name remains the same," Mr. Bhagwat said at a programme organised by the Sakal Jain Samaj.
• Union Minister of State for Electronics and Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar hit back at the Opposition for criticising the government over 'President of Bharat' G20 invite, saying the country is Bharat and there was nothing wrong in writing so. "I don't understand what is wrong in writing President of Bharat. Our country is Bharat. I don't think there should be any problem," Chandrasekhar said.
• “The British changed Bharat's name to India. Under Article 1, the Constitution states: 'India, that is Bharat'. Our country has been known by the name 'Bharat' for thousands of years ... it is this country's ancient name and is found in ancient Sanskrit texts. The name 'India' was given by the colonial Raj and is thus a symbol of slavery. The name India should be removed from the Constitution, " said the Rajya Sabha MP.    

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on ‘Bharat’ debate:

Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, also criticised the renaming concept. "Will BJP replace 'Bharat' with something else, if INDIA alliance changes its name to Bharat? If an alliance of some parties become India, would they change the name of the country? The country belongs to 140 crore people, not to a party. Let's assume if the India alliance renames itself as Bharat, would they rename Bharat as BJP then?... What's this joke?... BJP is thinking that their vote count will decrease so they should change the name of Bharat," he further said.     

Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said in his post on ‘X’ that “Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar wrote in the constitution-- "India That Is Bharat". But Modi and RSS who hate Babasaheb want to change the constitution. Why do Bhagwat and Modi hate Babasaheb so much?”