India vs Bharat: Bharat according to the Constitution

Invitations to the upcoming G-20 Summit in New Delhi have just undergone a significant change. Instead of the traditional "President of India," the invite now states "President of Bharat," reviving a larger debate about the nation's name and its historical connotations.

What are the Historical Contexts for the Names "India" and "Bharat"?

Constitutionality

The Indian Constitution already uses the terms "India" and "Bharat" interchangeably, declaring that "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States."

The Indian Constitution's preamble begins, "We the People of India," however the Hindi version uses "Bharat" instead of "India," signifying interchangeability.

Furthermore, certain official agencies, such as the Indian Railways, already have Hindi variations that incorporate "Bharatiya."

Origin of the Name Bharat

The term "Bharat" has extensive historical and cultural antecedents. Its roots can be found in Puranic literature and the epic Mahabharata.

According to the Vishnu Purana, "Bharata" is the country between the southern sea and the northern snowy Himalayan mountain range.

It denotes a religious and socio-cultural entity rather than a political or geographical one.

Bharata is also the name of a mythological ancient ruler who is considered the ancestor of the Rig Vedic tribes of Bharatas, as well as the founder of all people in the subcontinent.

Origin of the Name India

The term India is derived from the word Indus, which is the name of a river that flows through the subcontinent's northwestern region.

The people who lived beyond the Indus were known as Indoi, which means "people of the Indus" in Greek.

Later, the Persians and Arabs used the terms Hind or Hindustan to refer to the Indus Valley.

From these sources, Europeans adopted the term India, which became the country's official name under British colonial administration.

Constitutional Assembly Deliberation Regarding India and Bharat:

The controversy over the country's name is not new. There was disagreement about the name when the Constituent Assembly drafted the Constitution in 1949.

Some members felt that the term "India" evoked colonial tyranny and attempted to prioritize "Bharat" in official publications.

Seth Govind Das of Jabalpur campaigned for "Bharat" to be placed above "India," highlighting that the latter was simply an English translation of the former.

Hari Vishnu Kamath cited the Irish Constitution, which altered the country's name after independence, as a precedent for using "Bharat."

Hargovind Pant stated that the people preferred the word "Bharatvarsha" over the term "India" imposed by foreign rulers.

Recent Development

The Centre rejected a name change in 2015, claiming that the topic had been thoroughly debated during the Constitution's formulation.

The Supreme Court has twice rejected petitions to change the name "India" to "Bharat," once in 2016 and again in 2020, stating that both "Bharat" and "India" are mentioned in the Constitution.

Article 1 of the Constitution reads as follows

India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States. The states and territories are those stated in the First Schedule.

The territory of India shall comprise - the territories of the States; the Union territories specified in the First Schedule; and such other territories as may be acquired.

The Constitution stipulates in Article 1 that "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States."