It is learnt that the opposition parties have alleged that the government is planning to drop ‘India’ and stay with just ‘Bharat’ as the country’s name. Confirming that Bharat has been used as the name of the country in some of the documents relating to G20, sources have said that it is a conscious decision. Whether it is a move to counter the move of the opposition parties naming the alliance as INDIA bloc is anybody’s guess. Be that as it may, changing the name of the country, for whatever reason, will have widespread ramifications. There will be a need for change from 'India' to 'Bharat' in various official documents including personal identifications like Aadhaar card, driving license, ration card, pan card, Indian passports, besides other documents. A country with two names which are interchangeable will create a lot of confusion not only in the country but abroad also. In the UN India’s name is ‘Republic of India’. If it is to be written as ‘Republic of Bharat’ then the constitution of the country will have to be changed according to constitutional experts who have also said that ‘India that is Bharat’ written in article 1 is only descriptive and these two names are not interchangeable. A debate on the matter would be desirable.
