Page 25 - PR COMMUNICATION AGE AUGUST 2015 SAMPLE

'INDIA' OR 'BHARAT'
OR BOTH

S ocial activist Niranjan Bhatwal from Maharashtra to the geographical area. 'India' was first used by the
has moved a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Greeks and finds mention in the writings of Herodotus (5th
Supreme Court seeking that the country be called century BC) and Megasthenes (3rd century BC), and is de-
'Bharat', and not 'India' as the latter is of colonial rived from river Sindhu or Indus. Later, Persians and then
origin, and that the constitution makers intended Arabs used 'Hindu' to describe the inhabitants of the sub-
that 'Bharat' be used for all official and unofficial purposes, continent. 'Hindu', the religion, and 'Jai Hind', India's offi-
and not 'India'. The apex court asked the Centre and all cial salutation, are both derived from this.
state governments for their response to the PIL.
World over, there are countries that have changed names,
In 1949, the Constituent Assembly had debated the possible and those who didn't. There are others which have contin-
name of the newly independent country. Names suggested ued with two names - one name with which people of the
during the debate had ranged from Bharat, Hindustan, countries have called themselves for centuries, and the
Hind, Bharatbhoomi, Bharatvarsha and Aryavrat. The Con- other name that foreigners have used to describe them.
stituent Assembly decided to take the middle path. Article
1 of the Constitution of India states: "India, that is Bharat, Countries that have changed name
shall be a Union of States."
Previous name Changed name
Yogi Adityanath, Bharatiya Janata Party's controversial MP
from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, currently has a private Burma Myanmar
member's bill listed in the Lok Sabha that demands 'India'
be replaced by 'Hindust(h)an' - the land of the Hindus. Ceylon Sri Lanka

"Article 1 should read 'Bharat, that is Hindustan…," he says, Abyssinia Ethiopia
as 'India' "denotes slavery". The BJP foreign policy resolu-
tion, which was in English, released at its national execu- Mesopotamia Iraq
tive meeting in Bengaluru in early April didn't use 'India'
but only Bharat in its text. Persia Iran

Constitutional expert Subhash C Kashyap says both 'India' Rhodesia Zimbabwe
and 'Bharat' are constitutionally correct. "Article 1 of the Southern Rhodesia and northern art Zambia
official English version of the Constitution states: "India, that
is Bharat…". The official Hindi version of the Constitution Zaire Democratic Republic of Congo
states "Bharat, arthat India…". "It is for the Supreme Court
to decide but my personal opinion is that this is a non-issue British Honduras Belize
when we have so many more important issues to address,"
Kashyap says, adding the word 'India' is not of colonial ori- Bechuanaland Botswana
gin and 'Hindu' has its roots in 'India'.
Gold Coast Ghana
'Bharat' is how ancient Indian texts, like the Puranas, refer
Dutch East Indies Indonesia

New Spain Mexico

Bessarabia Moldova

South West Africa Nambia

Countries with two names

Japan is Nippon; China is Zhongguo, Egypt is Misr; Bhutan
is Druk Yul; Germany is Deutschland; Hungary is
Magyarorszag. (Source : BS)

PR COMMUNICATION AGE August 2015 21