Dinner invites referring to India by its Sanskrit name have fueled a political row and public debate over what the country should be called, its history and colonial legacy as New Delhi prepares to welcome world leaders for the G20 summit.

Invites issued by the “President of Bharat,” instead of the customary “President of India,” were sent to delegates from the world’s 20 top economies for a dinner to be hosted by Indian President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday, according to a source in her office.

Both India and Bharat are used officially in the nation of 1.4 billion people, which has more than 20 official languages.

Bharat is the Hindi word for India and is used interchangeably — both feature on Indian passports, for example.

The G20 summit is a first for India as Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims to raise New Delhi’s global clout following nearly a decade-long tenure in power in which he has positioned himself as a leader intent on shedding the country’s colonial past. Britain ruled India for about 200 years until it gained independence in 1947 and those who prefer Bharat say the name the country is best known by globally is a remnant of the colonial era.

The name India has been derived from the Sanskrit word for the Indus River —Sindhu — and was later adapted by the British Empire.

“The word ‘India’ is an abuse given to us by the British, whereas the word ‘Bharat’ is a symbol of our culture,” said Harnath Singh Yadav, a BJP politician.

Meanwhile, former India cricket star Virender Sehwag urged the sport’s officials to use Bharat on players’ shirts during the Men’s Cricket World Cup, which will be held in India this year.

During its time in power, Modi’s government has made steps to steer the country away from what it has called “vestiges of British rule” and to free itself from its “colonial baggage.”

These efforts also include renaming roads and buildings related to both India’s Mughal as well as its colonial past.

For example, in 2022, the government renamed Rajpath, a 3-kilometer boulevard formerly known as Kingsway that runs through the heart of New Delhi. The new official name, Kartavya Path, would “remove any trace of colonial mindset,” the government said.

And in 2018, three Indian islands named after British rulers were renamed in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, to erase “these signs of slavery.”

But the use of “Bharat” on the G20 invites has raised eyebrows among opposition leaders. “While there is no constitutional objection to calling India ‘Bharat,’ which is one of the country’s two official names, I hope the government will not be so foolish as to completely dispense with ‘India,’ which has incalculable brand value built up over centuries,” Shashi Tharoor, a former diplomat and prominent lawmaker from the main opposition Congress party, said on social media. (SD-Agencies)

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【残余】cányú vestige a trace or reminder of something

【令人震惊】lìngrén zhènjīng raise eyebrows elicit shock, surprise, or offense

在新德里准备迎接世界各国领导人参加二十国集团峰会之际，使用印度梵文名称的晚宴邀请函引发了一场政治风波和公众辩论，争论的焦点是印度的名称、历史和殖民遗产。

据印度总统德劳帕迪•穆尔穆办公室的一位消息人士称，印度向来自世界 20 个最大经济体的代表发出了邀请，邀请他们参加印度总统穆尔穆将于周六举行的晚宴，邀请函上的署名是“巴拉特总统”，而不是习惯上的“印度总统”。

印度有 14 亿人口，拥有 20 多种官方语言，印度和巴拉特都是印度的官方名称。

“巴拉特”是印地语，和“印度”可以互换，印度护照同时使用了这两个词。

在近十年的执政生涯中，印度总理纳伦德拉•莫迪刻意摆脱印度殖民历史。此次G20峰会首次在印度举办，莫迪期待提升新德里的全球影响力。

被英国统治约200年后，印度1947年获得独立。倾向于使用“巴拉特”名称的人认为，“印度”虽然在全球最广为人知，但属于殖民时代的历史包袱。

印度这个名字源自印度河的梵文词Sindhu，后来被大英帝国采用。

印度人民党政治家哈纳特•辛格•亚达夫说：“‘印度’一词是英国人对我们的蔑称，而‘巴拉特’是我们文化的象征。”

男子板球世界杯今年将在印度举行，前印度板球明星维伦德•塞瓦格也敦促体育官员在球员球衣上使用“巴拉特”一词。莫迪政府执政期间采取了不少措施，引导国家摆脱所谓的“英国统治残余”，并从“殖民包袱”中解脱出来。

这些努力还包括重新命名与印度莫卧儿王朝和殖民历史有关的道路和建筑。

例如，2022 年，政府对Rajpath进行了重新命名，这条3公里长的林荫大道也称为Kingsway，即国王大道，贯穿新德里市中心。政府表示，新的正式名称 Kartavya Path （责任大道）将“消除殖民思维的痕迹”。

2018年，安达曼和尼科巴群岛中以英国统治者命名的三个印度岛屿也被重新命名，以消除“奴役的痕迹”。

但在G20邀请函上使用巴拉特让一些反对派领导人侧目。前外交官、主要反对党国大党议员沙希•塔鲁尔在社交媒体上说：“虽然宪法并不反对将印度称为‘巴拉特’，这是印度的两个官方名称之一，但我希望政府不要愚蠢到完全放弃‘印度’这个名字，因为它蕴含积累了几个世纪、不可估量的品牌价值。”(Translated by Debra)