Narendra Modi’s BJP has kept everyone guessing again by calling a special session in parliament from September 18th to September 22nd, 2023. Every channel is debating whether he is going to bring the name ‘Bharat’ as the official name of the country that has commonly been called ‘India’ as named by the British once. Some say that this will not be a change at all, as ‘Bharat’ was always prevalent along with the name ‘India,’ although ‘India’ was used more commonly in official communications and in day-to-day usage, whereas ‘Bharat’ was used from a regional communication standpoint. Here is how I see the impact of this.
The opposition parties who got together and, after a lot of deliberation, came up with the supposedly smart name for ‘I.N.D.I.A’ for their alliance against Modi will now be rattled, as Modi might outsmart their plan of making the 2024 elections ‘India vs. Modi.’ If Modi brings in a resolution in the special parliament session, holding the Sengol, that ‘India’ from today should be referred to as ‘Bharat’ for all official purposes, then he will set a new narrative that the name ‘India’ has a colonial flavor to it, was given by foreign forces to us, is not mentioned in any of our scriptures, and there is nothing in that name that represents our age-old civilization. The I.N.D.I alliance will find themselves on the wrong side automatically. What will they then claim to represent? It will become the fight between parties that represent the colonial elitist mindset, proudly calling their alliance ‘India,’ and the NDA that actually represents ‘Bharat,’ that every child born in this great land of ‘Bharatavarsha’ identifies themselves with. All the creative effort of whoever came up with this ‘brilliant’ alliance name, some say it was Rahul Gandhi, and some claim it was Mamata Banerjee, will immediately go down the drain, and this alliance will be left blinking on how to sustain their narrative. This will be a check and mate move by the master of masterstrokes, Narendra Damodardas Modi.
The opposition side claims that Modi is rattled by their alliance and the unity that’s being demonstrated in all the meetings that they have had. It’s not sure who is rattled – the side that had to get together even though they have a lot of issues and differences between them to oust one party and one man in the center or the side that is going strong with a leader who still enjoys the support of the majority of the people of ‘Bharat,’ who still want him to be the Prime Minister of ‘Bharat,’ based on all the survey results so far. The other salvo at Modi by the opposition parties is that he is doing politics by trying to change the name of the country for official purposes and is calling for a special session in Parliament without giving details of the agenda, etc. Why shouldn’t he do politics when every other party in the ‘dot-dot’ alliance does politics at the drop of the hat, be it any issue, however serious it may be, like the Manipur issue, and always see red when even any good step is taken like the reduction in cylinder price, etc. It is the opposition parties who get rattled with any achievement of ‘Bharat,’ like even the Chandrayaan 3 success, and are quick to issue statements that it’s ISRO and not Modi, fearing Modi will get the credit and the votes, which he is going to get anyway, as the mood of the nation shows.
The idea about giving predominance to the name ‘Bharat’ will make several parties in the ‘dot-dot’ alliance, like some in Tamil Nadu who have always taken an anti-Hindu, anti-Sanskrit stand, sit up and oppose the name ‘Bharat,’ claiming it to have a Sanskrit origin, Hindutva shade, etc., however baseless they may sound. The name ‘Bharat’ would definitely help the country and the ‘Bharatiyas’ to remove the colonial mindset that has been plaguing us for years now and will inspire the youth to take pride in our rich culture, our great ancient civilization, and the great lineage that they belong to. The name of a country really plays a role in shaping the mindset of a nation, and if the name personifies its civilizational and cultural ethos, nothing like it. Let’s wait and watch whether Modi creates history again!
Ananth Mahadevan is a political commentator based in Bengaluru.
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.