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 ...
Well, Prince ain’t using it..................
Actually I messed it up. We have to call Asian cities by their preferred names, like Beijing and Mumbai, but we can anglicize the names of European cities.
Yeah, I realize my mistake. I meant to point out how we have use their names for Asian cities, but not for European cities.
Can you imagine your life without speaking with an Indian customer service rep? We can only hope!!
BTW - the hateful anti-Christian Indian PM Modi needs to get it right. If we're going to go full Sanskrit, then we need to refer to Bharat as 'भारत'. Can you say 'भारत' 3x without hesitation?! LOL!!
Well, they are technically kind of in a border war right now, but it’s over an inconsequential bit of frozen mountains that nobody much cares about, and anytime that war does get “hot”, more Chinese and Indians die from the harsh environment than they do from shooting each other.
I reckon as long as the Chinese don’t make any moves beyond that, India is happy to let the status quo stand.
That’ll get the NCAA off the hook for existing in a Indian enclave. Finally.
Well in most European places if you call it by the “native” name they’ll like you more.
But the big difference is Asia got colonized to get their places renamed. Europe just got treated like their languages are inconvenient. So Europe just sees people who say it wrong as dumb English/ Americans.
Not saying they should. Just pointing out this is stupid. They are on their own path to wokeness.
I actually read the other day that Kirk Douglas was born in Amsterdam, New York. Not “New Amsterdam”, just Amsterdam. Which I guess is the new new Amsterdam.
Only if you make Vishnu the mascot.
I don't think he is hateful but there are elements in his coalition who are staunch "Hindu-ists" and they control significant blocks of his voter base. He can't lose them.
The way I figure is, they can call it whatever they want in their country and their language, but we get to call it whatever we want in our country and our language.
We’re not going to start calling Germany “Deustchland” are we?
Bharat is already India’s name, according to Wikipedia:
India, officially the Republic of India (ISO: Bhārat Gaṇarājya),[21] is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area; the most populous country as of June 2023;[22][23] and from the time of its independence in 1947, the world’s most populous democracy.[24][25][26]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/India
The Police wrote a song around that little play on words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhkcFullCBQ
“Can you imagine your life without speaking with an Indian customer service rep? We can only hope!!”
Yup—if Pakistan did the same we would be home free.
:-)
I would support that policy. One less instance of the EU trying to tell Americans what to do.
Was Dot Head already taken?
Because it’s acceptable to be racist colonizers as long as you are only doing it to other white people.
I prefer to call them by the tribe(nation) they belong to; don’t worry, they’ll tell you.
Baristas?
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.