Centre to consider renaming India to Bharat; here's what Amitabh Bachchan, Virender Sehwag said
The idea that India be renamed Bharat is not new; BJP Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Bansal brought up the subject during this year's Monsoon session of Parliament.
On Tuesday, Amitabh Bachchan, a famous actor from Bollywood, posted "Bharat Mata ki Jai (sic)" to X, a platform that was formerly known as Twitter. The megastar's post was made in response to rumours that the Centre may propose renaming India as Bharat during the forthcoming extraordinary session of Parliament, which will be held from September 18–22. The call for changing the Constitution to rename Bharat has grown louder. According to sources cited by India Today, the Centre is considering a new resolution in light of the strong demand. Additionally, Virender Sehwag, a former cricketer for India, encouraged Jay Shah, the head of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), to have Team Bharat written on Indian players' jerseys rather than Team India.
"I have always believed a name should be one which instills pride in us. We are Bhartiyas ,India is a name given by the British & it has been long overdue to get our original name ‘Bharat’ back officially. I urge the @BCCI @JayShah to ensure that this World Cup our players have Bharat on our chest," Sehwag wrote in a post on X formerly known as Twitter.
The idea that India be renamed Bharat is not new; BJP Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Bansal brought up the subject during this year's Monsoon session of Parliament. Bansal argued that the word "India" was offensive and called for its erasure from the constitution. This demand was not made exclusively by Bansal. A constitutional modification should be introduced, according to BJP MP Harnath Singh Yadav, to replace India with Bharat.
Yadav told news agency ANI: "The entire country is demanding that we should use the word 'Bharat' instead of 'India'...The word 'India' is an abuse given to us by the British whereas the word 'Bharat' is a symbol of our culture...I want there should be a change in our Constitution and the word 'Bharat' should be added to it."