Be it the interview of UPSC or PCS of any state, or any other government job, the interview board asks questions related to current affairs and controversial issues. The issue of India vs India is also very important for the candidates preparing for government job interview, which has been in the news recently. Politics heated up when the Central Government addressed the President as President of India in the invitation to the G-20 dinner. The opposition accused the government of trying to change the name of the country to Bharat because of the name of their alliance, ‘India’. Leaders of opposition and opposition came face to face on this issue. There was a fierce war of words.
Apart from politics, Vikas Divyakirti, who is famous for teaching UPSC Civil Services Examination aspirants in his simple, easy and special style, also recently expressed his opinion on this issue. He said that the name of the country should be in the language of the country. Instead of India that is Bharat, he said that India is India as his choice.
Dr. Vikas Divyakirti, founder and director of Drishti IAS Coaching Center, said in Miranda House College of Delhi University, ‘You also know why the issue of India vs India arose at this time, there is a political reason behind it. and me too. In my understanding, there are two ways to look at this issue, first why did it arise? And secondly what is right and what is wrong. The whole country knows the political background behind why this issue arose now. But if an issue is raised due to politics, then that issue itself is wrong, it does not happen. Politics sometimes does right things and sometimes wrong things. And if the right thing is done under public pressure, even if it is for political reasons, then what is so bad. Now let us talk about what is right between Bharat and India? There was a lot of debate on this in the Constituent Assembly. This is article one of our Constitution. It is written in it that India that is Bharat shall be a Union of States.
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Vikas Divyakirti said, ‘At the time of making the Constitution, there was a very interesting debate whether India should be named Bharat or something else, some said Aryavrat, some said Hindustan, all names are acceptable. In the end a consensus was reached on India and India only. Nehru ji did not say it openly but from his point of view, what was more prominent there was that in the process of making our Constitution, there were many acts which were made by the British, like the Indian Independence Act 1947, the Act of 1935, all these India was used, the name India was there in all the agreements that were made with other countries at that time, the western world knew us by the name of India. Be it America or France, everyone knew India by name. Nehruji was of the mind that we have to look at things from a global perspective because he was very much interested in international issues. I think for all these reasons it was decided that we will keep our name India. But India will also have equal importance as India. So it was written in the Constitution – India that is Bharat i.e. India that is Bharat will be a union of states.
Vikas Divyakirti, a very popular teacher in the world of UPSC coaching, further said, ‘A few days ago, I was sitting in a taxi in Holland. Interesting thing, think about it. The taxi driver was Moroccan. As soon as the taxi driver came to know that I was from India, he asked me the same question. He said that you are hearing about India and India’s debate, what do you think? I was surprised that this Moroccan man lives in Holland, a question was coming in his mind, so I said that it is for political reasons. But the point is correct. As Bombay became Mumbai, I was happy because the fun which is there in Mumbai for the population of Mumbai is not there in Bombay. The British gave the name Bombay. The British changed Kolkata to Calcutta and the people of Bengal changed it to Kolkata. The people of Delhi made Delhi Delhi. If the name of Burma is Myanmar then it is right because the voice of the people is in Myanmar, not in Burma. In the debate between Sri Lanka and Ceylon, he may want to consider himself a Sri Lankan because Sri Lanka speaks his language. So this question comes to my mind that why should India be named India? Let me make it clear that I am not speaking in favor of the government. I don’t care about them. I am talking about the idea.
He said, ‘When I used to teach the Constitution, while teaching the articles, I always used to say that it pricks me saying ‘India that is Bharat’. If both had been written, they would have written Bharat That is India. The Moroccan driver said, ‘We got our name Moroccan because of the French people. Moroccans call Moroccans Maghrib. When I went to Saudi Arabia, when I told the people there that I had come from Morocco, they started looking at me as if I was crazy. He said that you have come from the Maghreb. If the population of the Maghreb is happy to call itself Maghreb then why should it be called Morocco because of the French people. The word India was given by the people of the West and it was given in bad intentions. In their eyes, being Indian means being backward, Red Indians, West Indians. This matter has arisen today due to political reasons in which I have no interest at all. But whether it happens today or whenever, I am in favor that the name of the country should be in the language of the country. And the language of the country is in favor of India. You keep India also. ‘Bharat that is India’ would be my first choice instead of ‘India that is Bharat’. I have no problem with India but India is my first love.