The 2019 general election in India gave the ruling alliance, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA; in which the biggest party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian People's Party/ BJP), belongs to), additional seats, widening its lead against opposition parties which are fragmented. Recognising the ongoing democratic backsliding, attacks against human rights in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's questionable relations with oligarchs like Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, and the danger of another NDA victory in next year's general elections, 26 parties including the Indian National Congress (INC), the Trinamool Congress, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), formed an alliance on 18 July 2023, formed a coalition and called it the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A.).
I.N.D.I.A.; the country's name became a point of political contention; one can argue "the opposition is such a feeler, that it thinks 'vote India, vote I.N.D.I.A.'". The alliance made a more direct statement: "the voice of India is I.N.D.I.A.". But it was easy for the ruling alliance to abandon the name, because the country in Sanskrit is "Bharat" ("Bharatiya" means "Indian"). "India" came from the word "Indus", referring to the Indus River; this is locally known as "Sindhu", but their Persian neighbours called it "Hindu", and Greeks and their Western successors adopted the term and thus "India".
Another name for India is "Hindustan", Persian for "land of the Indus River". The BJP/NDA regime is attempting to wipe the country's Mughal and colonial past out, such as renaming Delhi's Aurangzeb Road (after a Mughal emperor) to APJ Abdul Kalam Road (the name sounds Muslim, but BJP official Mahesh Sharma argued the former president was a patriot "despite being a Muslim"), so "Hindustan" would be a less welcoming name. With the country having been under Persian Muslim rule, Hindu nationalists treat Persians as Muslims, and Persian influence as Muslim influence.
(Side comment: If "Hindu" is Persian and the local term is "Sindhu", nationalists should call Hinduism "Sindhuism", Hindutva (Hindu nationalism) "Sindhutva", the religious sister organisation of BJP, Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), "Vishva Sindhu Parishad (VSP)", and the top-level domain .in dropped)
Coming from "Hindu" is the Greek "Indos". Although "Sinthos (Σίνθος)" from the Sanskrit name "Sindhu" also came, "Indos" was more used and transformed into "India" to pertain to the entire land, which was subsequently used in Latin and later European languages. The Subcontinent was later called the "Indian Subcontinent", and after the British Raj rule, the country that became independent adopted the term, much to the dismay of Pakistan's first leader, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. (This story by Scroll explains the etymologies of three terms extensively.)
Exploiting the country's names, after the creation of I.N.D.I.A., calling the country "Bharat" became politicised, and the notion of calling it "India" as "anti-national" surfaced. "Another deep blow to mentality of slavery", tweeted BJP Uttarakhand official Pushkar Singh Dhami, commending the change in the invitation to the G20 leaders for a dinner during the summit of the bloc, currently presided by India; the President addresses herself as "President of Bharat", instead of "President of India".
The name used in the international community will be perceived as legacy of British colonial rule and of foreign influence, and usage will be, as Dhami said, part of "mentality of slavery". There is gossip that the BJP/NDA regime will reach out to the United Nations so it will call India "Bharat", and the UN Secretary-General's deputy spokesperson, Farhan Haq, cited Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's request for Turkey's name change to its local term, "Türkiye", regarding the possibility of the India-Bharat name change. Those critical to only Western colonialism and neo-imperialism would welcome this change; I believe people supportive of the Malian and Burkinabè juntas, which have animus to Western powers, will vote in favour.
Again, why the name change? It's the reaction to I.N.D.I.A.. When AAP head Arvind Kejriwal learned of the "President of Bharat", he ridiculed the development: " if the name of the [I.N.D.I.A.] alliance is changed to Bharat, will they change the name of Bharat to BJP?". The ruling party, nevertheless, is making the change work against the united opposition; it can claim I.N.D.I.A. stands for colonialist legacy and Western imperialism not only in front of Indian voters, but also to the international community, and I'm afraid those like in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, and other critics of the West will take its bait: "Modi challenges Western hegemony, and abandoning "India" to adopt "Bharat" in our eyes will be a deep blow thereto; Rahul Gandhi (INC head), Congress and the rest of I.N.D.I.A. are Western puppets". This would also be a validation to the BJP's state terrorism and crimes against humanity (also read here and here).
I.N.D.I.A. tries to uphold India, BJP is just desecrating Bharat. This is all about politics; we shall not fall into the latter's trap.
Article posted on 08 September 2023, 18:17 (UTC +08:00).
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