Is the proposed name change from “India” to “Bharat” a matter of significant concern?
At the same time as the 18th meeting of the leaders of the “Group of 20” held in New Delhi, the news about India’s name change received wide coverage and was on the headlines of the world media.
The news hit the media when official invitations to the G20 summit dinner guests sparked speculation about India’s possible name change. In these invitations, “President of Bharat” was used instead of “President of India” to refer to Draupadi Murmu.
Also, the chief spokesperson of the ruling party “Bharatiya Janata” also used “Prime Minister of Bharat” to refer to “Narendra Modi” in his Twitter post (X).
Then, in the Prime Minister’s placard at the opening of the summit of this group, the name “Bharat” was mentioned to refer to India, which increased speculations about changing the name of this South Asian country.
India is not the first country to change its name and it will not be the last. Modi’s nationalist government had previously changed the names of several cities associated with the Gorkan era and the colonial era of this country.
By digging into the history, the names of dozens of countries, including Iran, have been changed at some point. Therefore, besides our country, we can mention the name change of Thailand, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Turkey, Czech Republic, Congo, Zimbabwe, North Macedonia, etc.
The authorities of each country have their own reasons and justifications for changing the name. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan informed the United Nations in 2022 that his country should be called “Turkey” in all languages from now on, adding that this word is a better representation than the name of a “bird”. (Turkey means turkey in English.)
“Milos Zaman”, the former president of the Czech Republic, said in 2019 that I use “Czech” because it is more beautiful and shorter than the dry and official name “Czech Republic”.
In January 2020, the Netherlands decided to use the Netherlands instead of Holland and remove it. The government of this country announced that the Netherlands shows this country as free, modern, and comprehensive better than the Netherlands.
The country “Republic of Macedonia” was officially renamed to “Republic of North Macedonia” in 2019. The name was changed during political disputes with Greece to distinguish between the country and the northern region of Greece called “Macedonia”.