The BJP drew flak from the Opposition after the Centre sent G20 delegates invitations from the 'President of Bharat' rather than 'President of India'. This is being seen as a precursor to a move to bring in a change in the name of the country through legislative means in the upcoming special session of Parliament. However, there is no clarity on the session's agenda yet. Officials have said that this is the first change in India's nomenclature for any official event. The Opposition attacked the BJP-led government, saying that "our national identity is not the BJP's personal property that it can modify on whims and fancies".
AAP leader Raghav Chadha on the matter said, "The BJP's recent move to change the reference from 'President of India' to 'President of Bharat' on official G20 summit invitations has raised eyebrows and ignited a public debate. How can the BJP strike down 'INDIA'? The country doesn't belong to a political party; it belongs to 135 crore Indians. Our national identity is not the BJP's personal property that it can modify on whims and fancies."
Congress leaders also targeted the BJP. Congress leader Manish Tiwari cited Article 52 of the Indian Constitution and said "There shall be a President of INDIA. Can’t get more explicit than this - Can it?"
According to several reports, at the special session of Parliament that the Centre has convened from September 18 to 22, a bill to change the name of 'India' to 'Bharat' is likely to be proposed.
Earlier, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said that the country should be called Bharat instead of 'India'. Bhagwat was quoted by NDTV as saying, "We must stop using the word India and start using Bharat. At times, we use India to make those who speak English understand... However, we must stop using this... The name of the country Bharat will remain Bharat wherever you go in the world."
Despite the arguments between the BJP leaders and the Opposition on this matter, changing the name of the nation isn't really a new concept if we look at the global scenario. Let us have a look at the nations whose names were changed.
- 2023: Micronesia changed to the Federated States of Micronesia.
2022: Republic of Turkey changed to Türkiye; Republic of Türkiye.
- 2018: Swaziland; Kingdom of Swaziland changed to Eswatini; Kingdom of Eswatini.
2017: The new state title of Libya was adopted as the State of Libya.
- 2016: Czechia was introduced as the country name; the Czech Republic remains the state title.
- 2014: Republic of Cabo Verde was adopted as a state title. Cape Verde had circulated a request for this form to be used, though the UK has retained the common English usage for the country name.
2013: The state title of Somalia removed ‘Democratic’ to become the Federal Republic of Somalia.
2012: Surinam to Suriname spelling change for country name agreed for British use.
2011: South Sudan; the Republic of South Sudan created & Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya became simply Libya
2010: New state title Republic of the Union of Myanmar, replacing Union of Myanmar. The country's name remains Burma
2009: The state title of Bolivia changed from Republic of Bolivia to Plurinational State of Bolivia.
2008: Nepal state title became the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal.
2007: Montenegro removed the Republic from its formal name so Montenegro became both country name and state title.
2002: Bahrain changed its state title from State of Bahrain to Kingdom of Bahrain
2001: Comoros adopted a new state title. Union of the Comoros
1997: Western Samoa was renamed Samoa and Zaire became Congo (Democratic Republic)
1992: Congo; Republic of the Congo restored as state title, replacing People’s Republic of the Congo
1990: Benin; People’s Republic of Benin state title changed to Republic of Benin
1984: Upper Volta; the Republic of Upper Volta was renamed Burkina Faso in the country
1979: Iran; Islamic Republic of Iran became state title, replacing the Imperial State of Iran
1972: Sri Lanka adopted a country name change from Ceylon.
1971: Democratic Republic of the Congo (previously Belgian Congo) became Zaire, renamed by President Mobutu Sese Seko & Egypt; Arab Republic of Egypt replaced United Arab Republic as the official name
1964: Tanganyika and Zanzibar joined to form Tanzania; United Republic of Tanzania