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

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

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

He said that if changing the name of the country seems hectic, it must be brought into the daily parlance. "If we are unable or unwilling to change the name of the 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 added.

NCERT's Plan on ‘Bharat’ and ‘India’ 

"Bharat" and "India" will be used interchangeably in NCERT textbooks as is the case in the country's Constitution, National Council of Educational Research and Training Director Dinesh Prasad Saklani has said recently. His comments come at a time when a high-level panel working on the 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 the 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 either India or Bharat," said Saklani as quoted by PTI.

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

Bharat and G20 

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