What’s in a name? Virendra Sehwag, Sheetal Chopra join ‘India vs Bharat’ debate; old video of Pawan Kalyan urging a name change goes viral
What’s in a name?
The query is clearly rhetorical one.
Name is more than an amalgamation of words. It can indicate cultural pride, sense of identity and even reclaiming it. It is also not bereft of political connotations.
Hours after the Government sent invites to the heads of state for the President’s dinner (for the upcoming G20 summit) in the name of the President of Bharat, rather than the standard President of India, X (formerly Twitter), became a hotbed of political polarisation as well as memes.
There were several speculations that this may be a prelude to an actual name change of the country!
Several celebs joined in on the debate on whether or not, India should be renamed Bharath. Take a look!
RSS member Sheetal Chopra shared a viral video of Telugu star Pawan Kalyan advocating for the country to be renamed as Bharat. Ths was at a 2019 press conference.
“Pawan Kalyan in his speech clearly states should identify ourselves with the name Bharat because it is the original name of our country.
India is the name given by foreign rulers,” she wrote.
Former captain Virendra Sehwag also batted for the ‘pro-Bharat’ team. Sharing a video dated 2014 of the philosopher and spiritual expert Sadhguru advocating renaming India as Bharat, he wrote, “In this video from 2014, a wonderful explanation by @SadhguruJV on the science behind the name, and importance of calling our country Bharat.”
Columnist-entrepreneur Suhel Seth also came out in support. Known for his acerbic sense of humour the columnist quipped, “The Communists always loved Bharat.
