Posted on 09/06/2023 11:55:58 AM PDT by Red Badger
NEW DELHI (AP) — Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has replaced the name India with a Sanskrit word in dinner invitations sent to guests attending this week’s Group of 20 summit, in a move that reflects his Hindu nationalist party’s efforts to eliminate what it sees as colonial-era names.
Indian President Droupadi Murmu is referred to as “President of Bharat” instead of “President of India” in the invitation sent to G20 attendees. The nation of more than 1.4 billion people is officially known by two names, India and Bharat, but the former is most commonly used, both domestically and internationally.
Bharat is an ancient Sanskrit word which many historians believe dates back to early Hindu texts. The word also means India in Hindi.
The change in nomenclature is backed by officials of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. They argue that the name India was introduced by British colonials and is a “symbol of slavery.” The British ruled India for about 200 years until the country gained independence in 1947.
“Another blow to slavery mentality,” the top elected official of Uttarakhand state, Pushkar Singh Dhami, said on X, formerly known as Twitter. Dhami, who is a leader of Modi’s governing party, shared the dinner invitation sent to G20 guests in his post.
Modi’s party has long tried to erase names related to India’s Mughal and colonial past.
In 2015, New Delhi’s famous Aurangzeb Road, named after a Mughal king, was changed to Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Road after protests from Modi’s party leaders. Last year, the government also renamed a colonial-era avenue in the heart of New Delhi that is used for ceremonial military parades.
Modi’s government says the name changes are an effort to reclaim India’s Hindu past.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
What will teh citizens be called?
Bharatians?
Bharatese?
Bharatis?
Bharatonians?
This could get problematic..............
I still prefer the name Bombay to the current country name of
Mumbai, but my personal opinion about the tonalities of certain words does not matter to them.
So, now when we drop ordnance on the enemy emplacements we open the Mumbai Doors?..............
This surprised me:
The oldest countries are
Armenia - 2492 BCE.
North Korea - 2333 BCE.
China - 2070 BCE.
India - 2000 BCE.
Have to check with Dianne Feinstein and Joe Biden to see if they remember from their childhoods this was true.
“You most likely know it as Myanmar, but it will always be Burma to me.” ~ J.Peterman
They will still be unwelcome as H1B workers.
Because it was “assigned” to them by British colonizers.
Of course the Brit’s didn’t limit that behavior to places they colonized. They were really fond of renaming places to things more “convenient” to the English tongue, and they were the first people to start mass producing “official” maps. And that’s how Wien became Vienna and Moskva became Moscow and so many others.
It’s their place, they can call it what they want. Gonna take me a bit to catch up though. Map sellers are happy though.
"Indians!"
So why do we use “Moscow” but not “Warszawa”?
Sure, it’ll be just like old times!................
“Nit, nit, nit, nit....”
Perfect.
Just WTH is that about?
Does this mean we have to change the name of the Coltrane song?
Uh oh—one artificial intelligence interpreter is claiming it means “Death to Heathens”....
;-)
I don’t know, but a lot of Hoosiers are going to get pretty pissed off when then find out that they now live in Bharatapolis, Bharatna...
Moscow is the English name for Moskva. So it’s the same reason we say Warsaw not Warszawa.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.