Eyebrows were raised when “Bharat” instead of India was used at the recent Group of 20 (G-20) meetings in New Delhi to describe the host country, prompting global speculation about whether the world’s most populous country is planning to change its name.
Yet the debate is a familiar one to locals, with some believing that the nomenclature battle between the ruling and opposition parties is an unnecessary distraction while others think it is warranted for the country to assert its identity.
No official agency has confirmed such a change, but with national elections due in 2024, Mr Modi’s Hindu nationalist BJP has rekindled an old debate that has now seen lines drawn between secularism and Hindu nativism. Earlier in September, Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan also tweeted “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”, or “long live Mother Bharat”, which is being seen as his endorsement of the name change. Actor Jackie Shroff meanwhile told TV reporters: “You people keep changing the country’s name, but don’t forget that you are an Indian.”
Social media in India is abuzz with how much the name change will cost. Using a model developed by an intellectual property lawyer in 2018 when Swaziland changed its name to Eswatini, the cost of changing India to Bharat has been estimated at more than 143 billion rupees .
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