How PM Modi is pushing the ‘Bharat’ narrative

Before heading to Jakarta for the ASEAN-India and East Asia Summits and then getting busy with the G20 Summit in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked his cabinet colleagues to refrain from being drawn into any debate on the possibility of India going for a name change. Modi, however, has lately stuck to the use of ‘Bharat’. In Jakarta, Modi used ‘Bharat’ instead of India in his opening remarks, saying “our history and geography connect Bharat and Asia”. He also referred to the event as the ‘Bharat-ASEAN’ Summit.

Controversy over India-Bharat had erupted over the G20 dinner invite from president Droupadi Murmu, which referred to her as the ‘President of Bharat’. This fuelled speculation among Opposition parties that the renaming of India could be on the Modi government’s agenda for the upcoming special session of Parliament. Some leaders claimed this was prompted by the united Opposition front christening itself as ‘INDIA’ (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance).

BJP insiders say the party doesn’t want to get stuck in the India vs Bharat debate, while continuing with the larger RSS agenda of pushing the envelope on the issue of renaming the country as ‘Bharat’. On September 3, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat reiterated in Guwahati that the people of the country should use the name ‘Bharat’ instead of India. And on September 5, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra shared official information regarding PM Modi’s visit to Indonesia for the ASEAN-India and East Asia Summits, in which he has been referred to as the ‘Prime Minister of Bharat’.

Both RSS and BJP ideologues say the name India smacks of a colonial overhang and lacks acceptance among the masses. They also believe that it is ancient Indian wisdom that can help the country rebuild itself, not only economically and culturally but also socially. The Sangh, for long, has been pushing for ‘Bharat’ as the country’s name.

The BJP doesn’t want to be seen as opposed to the name India, but at the same time prefers more use of ‘Bharat’. Party leaders cite Article 1 of the Constitution, which says “India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States”. In the Hindi version of the Constitution, ‘Bharat’ comes first—“Bharat arthat (or) India”. Also, all legislations and government communication in vernacular mention ‘Bharat’ and ‘Bharatiya’ instead of ‘India’ and ‘Indians’.

The RSS and its affiliates extensively use Bharat, even in their organisational names—Bharatiya Janata Party, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, Sanskar Bharti and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh. In 1951, when the RSS floated its first political affiliate, it was named the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. The party was meant to oppose the Indian National Congress, which Sangh ideologues thought was taking the country away from Hindu, Hindi and Bharatiya.

RSS ideologues believe the British rulers and Europeans popularised the name India.

European literature referred to the country as ‘Inde/India’ and the people as ‘Indien/Indian’. Earlier, invading Islamic rulers called the land ‘Hind’ and its people ‘Hindu’. It was all linked to mispronunciation of the word Sindhu, reference to the Indus or Sindhu river flowing from Jammu and Kashmir into modern-day Pakistan.

The traditions common in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist traditions have three personifications of Bharata—one each in the first three yugas. The first Bharata was born in Satyuga as the son of Rshabdeva, first among ancient sages. The Jains treat him as the first their Tirthankar while Hindus have him as Adinath.

Hindu traditions also mention Bharata as a tribe that resided between modern-day Kurukshetra in Haryana and the Ravi river passing through Punjab in Pakistan. King Devodasa and later his son Sudas built the initial empire around the tributaries of the mythical Saraswati river and named it ‘Sapt Sindhu’ or seven rivers. These kings were ancestors of the Kuru dynasty, which fought the battle of Kurukshetra in the Mahabharata. Later, the Vishupuran mentioned the land between the Himalayas and the seas as ‘Bharata’.

The second Bharata was born in Tretayuga as the son of King Dashrath of Ayodhya and the younger brother of Lord Rama. The third Bharata was born in Dwaparayuga as the son of Shakuntala and King Dushyant. Scholars of ancient texts such as Sandhya Jain argue that Rsabhdeva’s son Bharata gave us daya and tapas; Dasaratha’s son gave us prema, bhakti and bandhutva; and Dushyanta-Shakuntala’s son gave us seva, shaurya and dana.

During the independence movement against the British, several nationalist leaders had started using ‘Bharat’ as the country’s name. Renowned novelist Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay referred to Bharat as a female goddess in his paintings. In Hindu traditions, the land is referred to as mother, and Chattopadhyay used the blend of goddess Kali, Saraswati and Durga to describe the same. The national song ‘Vande Mataram’, penned by Chattopadhyay, praises the same motherland. The national anthem, written by Rabindranath Tagore, also mentions the land as ‘Bharat’.

‘Bharat Mata’ appeared on the cover of poet Subramania Bharati’s Tamil magazine ‘Vijaya’ in 1909. In the following decades, she appeared throughout India in popular art—magazines, posters and calendars—becoming a symbol of Indian nationalism for many. Islamic groups and liberals of that era had seen many of these elements as efforts at Hindu revivalism and opposed their use. The leftist Chempakaraman Pillai, in 1907, coined ‘Jai Hind’ as an alternative to the ‘Bharat’ reference. It’s a slogan that is widely used.

The RSS and BJP claim that the legacy of revivalism and the use of Bharat, Swadeshi, Bharat Mata ki Jai, and Vande Mataram come from the same school of thought. PM Modi, the RSS and likeminded intellectuals have managed to put the issue in public discourse, even if it has triggered a heated debate in the country. Whichever way it goes from here, the bottomline is in the Constitution: “India, that is Bharat”.

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