Sadhguru Joins India vs Bharat Debate, Calls Word ‘India’ Meaningless

New Delhi: Spiritual leer and founder of Isha Foundation Shguru Jaggi Vasudev joined ‘India’ vs ‘Bharat’ debate as he called for reclaiming old trition of calling our nation Bharat. He said that word India has no meaning.

Shguru me remarks while responding to National Council of Educational Research and Training's (NCERT) recommendation to change ‘India’ word with ‘Bharat’ in school textbooks. Shguru opined that nation must have reclaimed ‘Bharat’ at time of our independence. “We should have reclaimed name ‘Bharat’ when British left our shores. A name will not do everything but it is important country is named in a way that reverberates in everyone’s heart. Even though Nation means everything to us, word ‘India’ has no meaning," said Shguru in a post on X. 

He said that if changing name of country seems hectic, it must be brought into daily parlance. "If we are unable or unwilling to change name of Nation officially, it is time we at least bring ‘Bharat’ into our daily parlance. Younger generations must know that Bharat existed long before India was born. Congratulations NCERT,” he ded.

NCERT's Plan on ‘Bharat’ and ‘India’ 

"Bharat" and "India" will be used interchangeably in NCERT textbooks as is case in country's Constitution, National Council of Educational Research and Training Director Dinesh Pras Saklani has said recently. His comments come at a time when a high-level panel working on social science curriculum recommending that "India" should be replaced with "Bharat" in school textbooks for all classes.

"It is interchangeable....our position is what our Constitution says and we uphold that. We can use Bharat, we can use India, what is problem? We are not in that debate. Wherever it suits we will use India, wherever it suits we will use Bharat. We have no aversion to eir India or Bharat," said Saklani as quoted by PTI.

A high-level committee for social sciences, constituted by NCERT to revise school curriculum, h last year recommended that "India" should be replaced with "Bharat" in textbooks for all classes. 

Bharat and G20 

name Bharat first appeared officially last year when government sent out G20 invites in name of "President of Bharat", inste of "President of India". Nameplate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during summit in New Delhi also re "Bharat", inste of India.