INDIA TO BHARAT- A BRIEF CONSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS

INDIA TO BHARAT- A BRIEF CONSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS

Author:- Mohammed Fardeen Yusuf, a Student of Andaman law College

INTRODUCTION

The current point at issue to change the name of “India to Bharat” which is not something that has come out of the blue. The speculation made stating that the current government is to bring a resolution during the special session of parliament that is to schedule from September 18-22 that specifically will demand to change India’s official name to “Bharat”. 

CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

As per article 1 of the Indian constitution, it clearly specifies that “India that is Bharat shall be a Union of States” representing both the names to represent the country can be used and the genuine draft did not contained and particular mentioning the name “Bharat”. It was presented to the constituent assembly on 4th of November, 1948 by the father of the Indian Constitution Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar who was leading the constituent assembly with the specific amendment mentioning in the clause stating the name “Bharat” and several other factors related to the states. And it led to many controversies to name the country as the framing of constitution was in place. HV Kamath who was the leader of All India Forward Block placed the amendment stating Bharat as well as India with reference to Irish Constitution as the country Ireland also changed its name after achieving freedom, and a highlighting phrase indicating the word Indian as German in many parts of Europe during those times and another word ‘Hindustan’ was also pronounced. Another argument was placed before the assembly by Seth Govind Das, a congress leader from central province on the specific context of not finding the word India unlike Bharat in the ancient texts and the name that was given to the Sindhu river as Indus hence deriving the name India during the Greek empire in India. The emphasis was also made towards the Vedas and the Mahabharata defining the name Bharat. Various other members of the assembly placed their opinion upon the same, some even demanded for the use of word ‘Bharatvarsha’ & ‘Bharatbhumi’ stating the name which is used since ages according to the ancient history in the Hindu scriptures and tradition defining the great enthusiasm and courage and no hesitation should be made for the usage of these words which had a strong base in the ancient times. All these arguments were rejected by Ambedkar stating it as a non-debatable topic and the usage of both the terms of India as well as Bharat mentioning the same country during the limited time before the house. Hence leading to the rejection of all the drafts made to article 1.

THE NATION WILL BE CALLED AS?

A petition was filed by a Delhi based man towards the Supreme court in the year of 2020 claiming “the change in name of the nation from ‘India’ to ‘Bharat’ ensuring the citizens of this country to get over colonial past and would lead to a sense of pride in our own nationality”. The SC asked the centre to further look into the plea which placed a direction for the amendment of the constitution for replacing wholly the word ‘India’ with ‘Bharat’ freeing form the chains of slavery and would also justify the purpose to our freedom fighters. The mentioning of the constitutional debate in relation to the draft also took place. With reference to the dismissal made in 2016 towards the same context by the CJI T.S. Thakur stating that ‘Every Indian citizen has the right to choose between calling the nation as ‘Bharat’ or ‘India’ which shall not rest upon the SC’. Various constitutional experts also mentioned that there is no illegality in using ‘Bharat’ in place of India as the constitution used both the terms. The constitutional amendment to be made for changing the name with the ratification by the half of the states under Article 368. Concluding all that, both the terms are still being used by various big organisations in the nation like (Reserve Bank of India, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Indian Institute of Technology, Bharat Electronics Limited, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and various other companies) as the times of now but still the battle continues to give the nation one particular name.

*REFERENCE*

https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/india-bharat-constituent-assembly-debates-name-of-country-ambedkar-237091

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISwvroCa2L4&t=293s