Let us respect all religions and all languages and let all languages continue to prosper. Let our country continue to be called India, Bharat and Hindustan. Forcing things only leads to divisions.
Dr Javed Jamil | Clarion India
AS expected, the debate on “Bharat replacing India” has begun to rage. With elections approaching and the opposition alliance calling itself INDIA, the debate is bound to become increasingly stormy in the coming days and weeks.
What has surprised me is that someone from the ruling dispensation said that no other country has two names. This is totally wrong. There are a number of countries that have two names. Syria has “Shaam” as the Arabic name, Egypt has “Misr”, Iran has “Faras” as the Persian name, Jordan has “Urdun” as the Arabic name; and UAE has Muttahida Arab Imaarat as another name. Even many names are pronounced differently in different languages. China becomes Cheen in Hindi/Urdu, Russia becomes Roos, Britain becomes Bartaania, England becomes Inglistaan, Turkey becomes Toorki, and so on.
Moreover, apart from Bharat and India, we are forgetting that Hindustan has been another popular name for our country. We are not tired of singing “Saare Jahan se Achha Hindostan hamara”. Interestingly, Hindustan is the name which is closest to the word Hindu, the word which Mohan Bhagwat is not tired of using for every Indian. In fact, India is an English version of Hind, the word derived from the Indus Valley. Still, Jai Hind is one of the most popular chants of respect for the country along with Bharat Mata ki Jay. Again, one of the most known and oldest English newspapers in the country is Hindustan Times.
What is even most intriguing is that if Bharat has been most used by the people and the media of any country, it is none other than Pakistan. The people there never referred to India as Hindustan because of their own interpretation, which implies that Hindustan ceased to exist after Partition and it got divided into Bharat and Pakistan.
Furthermore, the names assume a different nature depending upon the languages spoken in a country. The countries, which have their own languages, but also use English as a means of communication for certain reasons including international relations, often have different names or different pronunciations for their names.
India is proud of its diversity; not only religious but also linguistic. India has more than twenty languages and hundreds of dialects, and whether one likes it or not, it is English and not Hindi, which has become the language connecting different regions of the country. Let us respect all religions and all languages and let all languages continue to prosper. Let our country continue to be called India, Bharat and Hindustan. Forcing things only leads to divisions.
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Dr Javed Jamil is an eminent Islamic scholar and author. The views expressed here are author’s personal.