RSS-linked body starts campaign to use ‘Bharat’ instead of ‘India’ | Latest News India

NEW DELHI: The Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas (SSUN), an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, on Friday wrote to President Droupadi Murmu urging the government to use ‘Bharat’ in all official communications till a constitutional amendment to rename the country is passed

Launching a month-long national signature campaign titled “One nation one name: Bharat”, SSUN national general secretary Atul Kothari said: “Bharat is derived from two words: ‘Bha,’ meaning light, and ‘Rata,’ meaning devoted. This signifies that Bharat is a land devoted to the pursuit of knowledge and enlightenment. In contrast, the name ‘India’ lacks any meaning. Even the Oxford Dictionary associates it with definitions that can be seen as demeaning. As a proud nation, we should embrace a name that reflects our rich heritage rather than one that carries a colonial legacy and demeaning to us.”

The campaign was launched at 200 locations across the country and aims to collect one million signatures by March 21.

“We will run the campaign till March 21 to get 10 lakh signatures from students, teachers, lawyers, industry leaders, public representatives and other prominent personalities. After collecting the signatures, we will give a memorandum to President requesting for amendment in Article 1 of Constitution to retain the name of nation as Bharat and remove India,” he added.

Article 1 of the Constitution states: “India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.”

He said SSUN was inspired to launch a campaign following two incidents during the G20 Summit held in Delhi in September 2023.

“During G20 event, President Murmu sent official G20 dinner invitations under the title “President of Bharat” instead of “President of India” and the name plate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s at the summit read “Bharat” instead of “India.” These two things led to discussions across the country,” he added,