NCERT Panel’s Proposal To Rename India As Bharat Sparks outrage Among Opposition Parties

New Delhi: The Opposition was up in arms on Wednesday against the NCERT panel’s suggestion to change ‘India’ to ‘Bharat’ in school textbooks. Many leaders from different parties expressed their strong opposition to the idea. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and MP Priyanka Chaturvedi called the idea a “political decision” and said, “It is sad that they are creating an India Vs Bharat divide. The words ‘India that is Bharat’ were written in our Constitution by Dr. BR Ambedkar himself. The future generations will not pardon them (the Centre) for this discrimination. For us, India is also Bharat and Hindustan. If the BJP had any sense of national pride, they would not change the name ‘India’ to ‘Bharat’.”

She also said, “They (BJP) keep attacking the INDIA (grand Opposition) alliance. They should criticise us on the issues that we raise and the statements that we make, but they should not do cheap politics over the country’s name.”

West Bengal Education Minister and Trinamool Congress leader, Bratya Basu, also slammed the Centre over the NCERT panel’s suggestion and said, “This is a ridiculous suggestion. It is clear that the BJP-led central government is afraid of the word INDIA. It is a strange decision. The suggestion sets a bad example and it seems that they are scared of INDIA and (TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee.”

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar also criticised the Centre over the NCERT panel’s suggestion and said, “Why are we still saying the Reserve Bank of India, Indian Administrative Service and Indian Foreign Service? Our passports still have the words ‘Republic of India’ written on them. I think there is something fundamentally wrong with this government. Why are they confusing the citizens unnecessarily? Their stance or position on this issue is anti-people, anti-India, and anti-Bharat. It is clear that the NCERT panel was forced to do this by the NDA government. This is totally wrong…you cannot change the country’s history. The Karnataka government will not make any such changes to textbooks.”

The words ‘President of Bharat’ in an official invitation from the Rashtrapati Bhavan to the G20 member leaders and delegates for a ceremonial dinner earlier had triggered a fierce political battle and raised doubts that the Centre was planning to introduce a motion in Parliament to rename ‘India’ as ‘Bharat’.