The Supreme Court today adjourned the hearing of a plea seeking amendment of Article 1 of the Constitution of India for altering the name of India to “Bharat”.
A bench of Justices AS Bopanna & Hrishikesh Roy adjourned the hearing to June 2 on account of unavailability of Chief Justice SA Bobde.
The plea has been filed by Namaha according to whom thethe country should be recognised by its “original” and “authentic name” Bharat. Petition was filed through Advocate Raj Kishor Chaudhary.
Petitioner has averred that the amendment to Article 1 shall ensure that citizens of the country get over their colonial past and the “removal of an English name” shall instil a sense nationalistic fervour.
It read,
“The time is ripe to recognise the country by its original and authentic name, i.e. BHARAT; especially when our cities have been renamed to identify with the Indian ethos…. In fact the word India being replaced with BHARAT would justify the hard fought freedom by our ancestors.”
Petitioner contends that there has been a failure to do away with the name “India” which is a “symbol of slavery”. He states that this has caused “injury” resulting in “loss of identity and ethos as inheritors of the hard-won freedom from foreign rule”.
To substantiate his averments, the petitioner cites the Constituent Assembly debates dated November 15, 1948 wherein Shri M. AnanthasayanamAyyangarand Seth Govind Das had battled for the adoption of names “Bharat, Bharat Varsha, Hindustan” instead of “India”.
The petitioner therefore seeks issuance of directions to the Union for taking appropriate steps to amend Article 1 of the Constitution so that the same refers to the Country as “Bharat”.
