The opposition has criticised the decision to replace 'India' with 'Bharat' in textbooks by the NCERT, describing it as "completely anti-people" and "anti-India." On the NCERT panel's suggestion to replace 'India' with 'Bharat' in school textbooks, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar questioned the rationale by asking, "Why do we continue to use terms like the Reserve Bank of India, Indian Administrative Service, and Indian Foreign Service if we are making this change?"
"In our passports, we have the Republic of India... I think something wrong has happened to this government... Why are they confusing the minds of Indians?... Whatever stand they have taken is completely anti-people, anti-India, and anti-Bharat... I am telling you they (NCERT) have been forced by the NDA government. This is completely wrong... You can't change the history of India... Karnataka will continue with whatever there was earlier," said DK Shivakumar.
AAP leader Priyanka Kakkar commented on the panel's recommendation saying that It shows the fear PM Modi has of the I.N.D.I.A alliance. "His alliance partners are leaving him. Instead of changing name, efforts should be made to focus on issues of joblessness, inflation, and corruption," Priyanka Kakkar added.
"The BJP is restoring to name-change politics to divert the attention of people from its misdeeds and maladministration," said DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu BJP vice president Narayanan Thirupathy welcomed the decision. "We welcome this... Unanimously, they have taken this decision and given this recommendation... Not only that, they are going to change it from ancient India to classic India... India that is Bharat, is in the constitution..," said Narayanan Thirupathy.
Responding to the move by NCERT, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the change of name from India to 'Bharat' is not acceptable. He further said that the proposal to change name is another step towards Sangh pariwar's efforts to to impose their divisive communalism in our educational institutions and curriculum.
Notably, NCERT has approved the recommendation of a high-level committee for social sciences to replace the name ‘India’ with ‘Bharat’ in textbooks and introduce ‘classical History’ instead of ancient History in the curriculum. According to committee chairperson C I Isaac, the panel has suggested replacing the name "India" with "Bharat" in the textbooks, introducing "classical history" instead of "ancient history" in the curriculum and including the Indian Knowledge System (IKS) in the syllabus for all subjects.
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