Despite a long record of name-calling, India remains an inspirational and inspiring brand

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Brand India enjoys liable to misuse? PM Narendra Modi's well-known flair for wordplay, using alliteration and other rhetorical devices, was given another airing when, during the parliamentary deadlock over the violence in Manipur, he took a dig at the opposition combine, which has adopted the acronym INDIA, and pointed out that the word 'India' has often been used as guise, or camouflage, by all manner of entities engaged in various kinds of nefarious activities. In support of his claim, he cited examples as diverse as the Indian National Congress, set up during the Raj under the auspices of Alan Octavian Hume after the 1857 uprising as a 'safety valve' and a counter-revolutionary sop to further British imperialism, and terrorist organisations such as the Indian Mujahideen and the Popular Front of India.

Though he did not include it in his charge sheet, consumer rights fora could aver that an airline which features India in its name might merit mention in that it has been known to inspire, if not terror, a measure of angst, among its patrons, thanks to its manifold vagaries regarding erratic schedules, technical glitches and other contretemps, such as rash-causing bedbugs lurking in the folds of inflight blankets. However, such exercises in what might be called namesmanship aside, India that is Bharat, which is Hindustan, has a long record of name-calling of a different sort.

The name India is supposedly derived from the name of the Sindhu (Indus) river, and traces its genealogy back to Herodotus, the 5th century BCE Greek 'Father of History', who is believed to have first used the term. In its Anglicised rendition, it reportedly cropped up in the 9th century, and re-emerged in its current form in the 17th century.