The plea emphasized that the English term “India” does not reflect the country’s cultural and traditional identity. It stated that renaming the country to “Bharat” would help citizens “shed the colonial baggage.”
New Delhi, March 17– The Delhi High Court has asked the central government to quickly comply with the Supreme Court’s order regarding a representation seeking the replacement of the word “India” with “Bharat” or “Hindustan” in the Constitution.
Justice Sachin Datta also permitted the petitioner to withdraw his petition related to the matter. The court’s order, passed on March 12, stated:
“After some hearing, senior counsel for the petitioner seeks to withdraw the present petition with leave to pursue the matter with the ministries concerned for disposal of the petitioner’s representation in terms of the order dated June 3, 2020 passed by the Supreme Court…the present petition stands dismissed as withdrawn.”
The court further directed that:
“The Centre’s counsel should appropriately convey to the ministries concerned for expeditious compliance of the order passed by the Supreme Court.”
Background
The petitioner, Namaha, had initially approached the Supreme Court in 2020. The apex court directed that the plea be treated as a representation and asked the appropriate ministries to consider it. However, due to a lack of updates, the petitioner later moved the Delhi High Court, seeking directions for the authorities to decide on the representation.
The plea emphasized that the English term “India” does not reflect the country’s cultural and traditional identity. It stated that renaming the country to “Bharat” would help citizens “shed the colonial baggage.”
“The petitioner is left with no option but to approach this court, by way of the present petition as there is no update from the respondents about any decision taken on the representation of the petitioner,”
the plea highlighted.
Plea for Constitutional Amendment
The petitioner urged an amendment to Article 1 of the Constitution, which defines the name and territory of the Union. Referring to the 1948 Constituent Assembly debates on Article 1, the plea mentioned that there was a “strong wave” at that time in favor of naming the country as “Bharat” or “Hindustan.”
“However, now 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,” the plea added.
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