Reconciling irreconcilables is a great Indian virtue. When the Constituent Assembly was divided over whether to call our country 'India' or 'Bharat', our founding fathers and mothers found the perfect compromise in drafting the Republic's foundational document, referring to "India, that is Bharat" and making both sides happy. The Preamble speaks of "We, the People of India" in English, and "Bharat ke log" in Hindi. Article 52 declares, in English, that "There shall be a President of India", and in Hindi calls the position "Bharat ke Rashtrapati". A simple, uncomplicated practice followed from all this: in English, and therefore internationally, our country was referred to as 'India'; in Hindi and other Indian languages, 'Bharat' was our country's name.
It worked, just as the country known in English as 'Germany' is Deutschland at home and to all who speak Deutsch (the language we refer to as 'German'). Nobody in that proud country, whose nationalism was at one time far more ferocious than ours, insisted that English speakers had to call them Deutschland too.
But what has worked for 76 years, and for a few millennia before that, is apparently not good enough for our government. The sudden unsettling decision to have the President of India issue formal invitations as "the President of Bharat" and for the prime minister to sit behind a name-plate at the G20 summit saying 'Bharat' in the Roman script, rather than 'India', has sparked off a controversy that is both pointless and totally unnecessary. Why tamper with an arrangement that was working perfectly satisfactorily? As the Americans like to say, "if it ain't broke, why fix it?"
This story is from the September 25, 2023 edition of India Today.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 25, 2023 edition of India Today.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Shuttle Star
Ashwini Ponnappa was the only Indian to compete in the inaugural edition of BDMNTN-XL, a new international badminton tourney with a new format, held in Indonesia
There's No Planet B
All Living Things-Environmental Film Festival (ALT EFF) returns with 72 films to be screened across multiple locations from Nov. 22 to Dec. 8
AMPED UP AND UNPLUGGED
THE MAHINDRA INDEPENDENCE ROCK FESTIVAL PROMISES AN INTERESTING LINE-UP OF OLD AND NEW ACTS, CEMENTING ITS REPUTATION AS THE 'WOODSTOCK OF INDIA'
A Musical Marriage
Faezeh Jalali has returned to the Prithvi Theatre Festival with Runaway Brides, a hilarious musical about Indian weddings
THE PRICE OF FREEDOM
Nikhil Advani’s adaptation of Freedom at Midnight details our tumultuous transition to an independent nation
Family Saga
RAMONA SEN's The Lady on the Horse doesn't lose its pace while narrating the story of five generations of a family in Calcutta
THE ETERNAL MOTHER
Prayaag Akbar's new novel delves into the complexities of contemporary India
TURNING A NEW LEAF
Since the turn of the century, we have lost hundreds of thousands of trees. Many had stood for centuries, weathering storms, wars, droughts and famines.
INDIA'S BEATING GREEN HEART
Ramachandra Guha's new book-Speaking with Nature-is a chronicle of homegrown environmentalism that speaks to the world
A NEW LEASE FOR OLD FILMS
NOSTALGIA AND CURIOSITY BRING AUDIENCES BACK TO THE THEATRES TO REVISIT MOVIES OF THE YESTERYEARS