NEW DELHI: There is no conflict between terms โIndiaโ and โBharatโ, says constitutional expert and Supreme Court lawyer Gyanant Singh, amid the raging controversy over renaming the country.
Speaking to The New Indian, โArticle 1 of our Constitution names our state as India, which is Bharat. Bharat here has been identified as India, not the other way around. This is how our constitution was crafted.โ Singh also said that the mention of โIndia i.e. Bharatโ in the Indian Constitution suggests that โBharatโ has been identified as โIndiaโ.
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โIn constituent assembly, an amendment was moved by HV Kamat proposed that Bharat, which in English translation, shall be India. But it was rejected,โ the expert informed.
He further said: โThe term โIndia i.e. Bharatโ mentioned in Article 1 of the Constitution actually means Bharat has been identified as India.โ
โThis is primarily a matter of nomenclature and how these terms are used. When it comes to executive memos and letters, there is no legal conflict with the constitution. However, itโs worth noting that the Preamble doesnโt mention โBharat,โ so if one wishes to align it with the Preamble, an amendment to Article 1 would be necessary,โ he stated.
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A controversy erupted after an invitation for a dinner to be hosted at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on September 9 on the occasion of G20 Summit referred to โPresident of Indiaโ as โPresident of Bharatโ.
Notably, 28 opposition parties recently formed a joint political forum, naming themselves โINDIAโ with the tagline โJeetega Bharat, Badhega India.โ Constituents of the INDIA alliance said that the governmentโs decision to rename the country was influenced by their move to name their alliance as INDIA.
