At the summit, Modi sat behind a nameplate that recognized the host nation as Bharat. An earlier invitation to a banquet for visiting dignitaries was addressed from the “President of Bharat.” And a booklet distributed to the G-20 visitors was entitled “Bharat: The Mother of Democracy.”

The query started swirling: Was Modi setting the stage for an official change of title for the world’s most populous nation?

This wouldn’t be solely stunning coming from Modi, whose political occasion is named the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — Hindi for Indian People’s Party. Bharat and India have been the 2 formally acknowledged names of the nation since independence from Great Britain, after a 3rd proposed title, Hindustan, was jettisoned. Many Indians use the 2 names interchangeably when talking within the a number of languages and dialects prevalent within the nation, though “India” is the widespread title in English.

But any potential title change comes in opposition to the backdrop of rising Hindu nationalism on the expense of Muslims and different minorities, stoked by Modi and the BJP since coming to energy in 2014.

Engendering nationalist and anti-Western sentiment has usually been a purpose behind altering the names of nations — notably those who have been named by way of colonization. It’s a helpful machine for leaders looking for to bolster their very own legitimacy by interesting to anti-colonial sensibilities and instilling a way of patriotism.

In Africa, for instance, when a mid-ranking navy officer named Joseph Mobutu seized energy in a 1965 coup within the Democratic Republic of Congo, he launched a marketing campaign for “authenticité,” to take away vestiges of the nation’s Belgian colonial previous. Citizens have been ordered to alter their European names to African ones — Mobutu himself turned Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu wa za Banga, which implies “the all-powerful warrior who, because of his endurance and inflexible will to win, goes from conquest to conquest, leaving fire in his wake.” He additionally modified the nation’s title to the Republic of Zaire, derived from a Kongo language description of the mighty Congo River.

Mobutu, who proved to be a ruthless and corrupt dictator, was overthrown by a insurgent military in 1997, and the nation’s title was rapidly restored to the Democratic Republic of Congo. To the victor goes the naming rights.

Likewise the navy generals ruling Burma modified the nation’s title to Myanmar in 1989, as a approach to attempt to legitimize their energy seize a 12 months after killing hundreds of protesters in an anti-government rebellion. For a long time, the nation had been often known as Burma after the dominant ethnic group. The junta leaders mentioned a reputation change was wanted to interrupt from the colonial previous and be extra inclusive to non-Burman ethnic minorities.

The United Nations now formally acknowledges the nation as Myanmar. The United States still uses the name Burma, as a result of it doesn’t acknowledge the legitimacy of the federal government that modified the title.

Swaziland’s King Mswati III unilaterally modified his nation’s title to Eswatini in 2018, to mark its fiftieth anniversary of independence from Britain. The title Eswatini means “land of the Swazi people” within the Swazi language.

Other international locations have modified their names for extra mundane or pragmatic causes that don’t have anything to do with throwing off a colonialist yoke.

The Republic of Macedonia turned the Republic of North Macedonia in 2018 to finish a decades-long dispute with Greece, which has a area with the identical title — and was blocking the nation’s NATO membership till the title swap.

The Czech Republic had an much more sensible purpose for a reputation change. The title, inherited on the breakup of Czechoslovakia, was a mouthful, and nobody knew what English shorthand to make use of for residents. So it became Czechia.

But why would Modi be contemplating altering India to Bharat? And why now?

With the BRICS grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa set to expand and add, amongst different nations, Argentina and Egypt, maybe Modi hoped that switching to Bharat would possibly reserve a spot for India close to the top of the alphabetical pecking order.

Besides interesting to his Hindu nationalist base, the prime minister additionally seems pushed by a mixture of pique and blatant political expediency earlier than elections due by subsequent May. More than two dozen opposition events announced in July that they have been becoming a member of forces to attempt to oust Modi’s BJP on the polls. The new alliance calls itself the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance. It’s not-coincidentally-convenient acronym: INDIA.

Playing up the acronym, the opposition forged the approaching elections as a check of “Modi versus INDIA.” Modi responded by comparing the alliance to the Nineteenth-century East India Tea Company, which was accountable for colonizing the nation.

There’s no telling the place this international name-swapping would possibly flip up subsequent. Might the ayatollahs of Iran be tempted to revive the traditional title Persia, because it was the British-installed Reza Shah Pahlavi who modified it to Iran? Perhaps China’s President Xi Jinping, an authoritarian who additionally likes to stoke nationalist sentiment, will insist on altering his nation’s title in English to “Zhongguo,” which is how the nation is referred to in Mandarin.

Even if the title is formally modified, I believe many all over the world will at all times seek advice from Bharat as India, very similar to South Vietnamese (and a few American boomers) nonetheless seek advice from Ho Chi Minh City as “Saigon.” Or in the way in which many Brits, together with Hong Kong’s final colonial governor, Chris Patten, nonetheless name the Chinese capital “Peking.” I, for one, nonetheless can’t use “Ronald Reagan” for our capital’s favored airport — it can at all times be Washington National to me.