The British thought process and culture seems to have gone so deep rooted into our blood stream that even after 60 years of Independence we continue to call our country "India" and ourselves as "Indians" without realising that this name was not given to us by some very good/noble people. It was given to us by traitors, exploiters who had captured our land and brought us down from the No. #1 global economic position to where we are today.
What is the problem in deciding to call ourselves again as Bharat in every conversation?
Negative thoughts that come to mind are....
1. Everyone, including ourselves, is too used to calling us as India. Now it is too late and not possible to change the name back to Bharat.
Well...there are numerous examples of places whose names have got changed. Initially, people did feel a bit uncomfortable with the name change but eventually today they are all well known by their new names. E.g. Bombay->Mumbai, Madras->Chennai, Calcutta->Kolkatta.
So this isn't a long term problem. Its just a few days of getting used to the new name (and in this case the name Bharat is not even a new name). Simply because the world has got used to calling us as India (a name given to us by our invaders) is no reason for continueing to use it forever !
2. Why bother to change the name? Why is it so important?
Answer to this question lies in the answer to the question - "What is the significance of your self-esteem or your self-respect?".
To the contemporary, fast-track, urban and so called global citizen this thought might sound completely futile and useless....
For those of us who can relate with this urban character...here is an analogy....
A thief/traitor hijacks your house and business, puts you into house arrest, loots you of your belongings, enjoys on your wealth for several years, beats you, Kills several of your kith and kin, blemishes your house-hold ways and culture and then for his own convenience of pronunciation changes YOUR name from what it really is to something of his choice, changes your education system such that your next generations can never get back to their ancestoral glory...and then....one fine day he decides to leave your house because now he feels there isn't much left to loot. Now your children were born during the time the thief was ruling your life....and those children start calling you with the name given to you by that theif. Infact, since your children always saw you in a pathetic condition (and not when you were the richest man in the world for several decades)...and since they saw all the riches to be available only with the thief (who had actually stolen them all from you)...they start to believe that the thief's ways are the right ways and they prefer to live, speak, think and act like the thief does ! Now after the theif is gone How would you feel when your own children call you with the name given to you by your exploiter ? Infact, how would you feel when your children feel embarrased or even ashamed at times to call you by your original glorious name?
This is how I personally feel whenever I hear MY country, Bharat, being tagged as "India" and MY countrymen including MYSELF as "Indians".
That was the emotional part of the reason. Coming to the practicality and necessity part....
In order to keep a nation united, it is very important that the countrymen remain bonded with each other on the basis of SOME common string of thoughts. This string of thoughts is commonly referred to as "Patriotism". It doesn't come if all citizens are 100% time busy with their day to day work without really caring about where the Nation as a whole is going. The name "Bharat" reminds us about the lost glory of our country - For those of you who don't know - We were the largest economy of the world (like USA) until about 1750 and our name was "Bharat" since past several milleniums. Even today, it is primarily the relatively minor urban and English educated folks who prefer to use the name "India". The kind of patriotic emotions and bonding which the name "Bharat" can create in the hearts of the "majority" of our country's population across languages, casts and cultures is far below what can be created by this alien word - "India".
3. Is there not anything more important left to do in our country than sit and brood about a name change?
Well, if you have to go to the moon, your first step has to be towards Shri-hari-Kota or towards NASA or some other space institution. If your first step is towards a submarine you won't reach the moon. you'll end up reaching the depth of oceans ! Similarly, I agree there are tens or thousands of development activities left to be done in our country. But the first step still has to be to set our identity right ! We have to be known AS what we really ARE and not what some traitor described us AS !
regards,
-Neel
