Dinner invites referring to India by its Sanskrit name have fueled a political row and public debate over what the country should be called, its history and colonial legacy as New Delhi prepares to welcome world leaders for the G20 summit. Invites issued by the “President of Bharat,” instead of the customary “President of India,” were sent to delegates from the world’s 20 top economies for a dinner to be hosted by Indian President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday, according to a source in her office. Both India and Bharat are used officially in the nation of 1.4 billion people, which has more than 20 official languages. Bharat is the Hindi word for India and is used interchangeably — both feature on Indian passports, for example. The G20 summit is a first for India as Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims to raise New Delhi’s global clout following nearly a decade-long tenure in power in which he has positioned himself as a leader intent on shedding the country’s colonial past. Britain ruled India for about 200 years until it gained independence in 1947 and those who prefer Bharat say the name the country is best known by globally is a remnant of the colonial era. The name India has been derived from the Sanskrit word for the Indus River —Sindhu — and was later adapted by the British Empire. “The word ‘India’ is an abuse given to us by the British, whereas the word ‘Bharat’ is a symbol of our culture,” said Harnath Singh Yadav, a BJP politician. Meanwhile, former India cricket star Virender Sehwag urged the sport’s officials to use Bharat on players’ shirts during the Men’s Cricket World Cup, which will be held in India this year. During its time in power, Modi’s government has made steps to steer the country away from what it has called “vestiges of British rule” and to free itself from its “colonial baggage.” These efforts also include renaming roads and buildings related to both India’s Mughal as well as its colonial past. For example, in 2022, the government renamed Rajpath, a 3-kilometer boulevard formerly known as Kingsway that runs through the heart of New Delhi. The new official name, Kartavya Path, would “remove any trace of colonial mindset,” the government said. And in 2018, three Indian islands named after British rulers were renamed in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, to erase “these signs of slavery.” But the use of “Bharat” on the G20 invites has raised eyebrows among opposition leaders. “While there is no constitutional objection to calling India ‘Bharat,’ which is one of the country’s two official names, I hope the government will not be so foolish as to completely dispense with ‘India,’ which has incalculable brand value built up over centuries,” Shashi Tharoor, a former diplomat and prominent lawmaker from the main opposition Congress party, said on social media. (SD-Agencies) Words to Learn 相關詞匯 【殘余】cányú vestige a trace or reminder of something 【令人震驚】lìngrén zhènjīng raise eyebrows elicit shock, surprise, or offense 在新德里準備迎接世界各國領導人參加二十國集團峰會之際，使用印度梵文名稱的晚宴邀請函引發(fā)了一場政治風波和公眾辯論，爭論的焦點是印度的名稱、歷史和殖民遺產(chǎn)。 據(jù)印度總統(tǒng)德勞帕迪?穆爾穆辦公室的一位消息人士稱，印度向來自世界 20 個最大經(jīng)濟體的代表發(fā)出了邀請，邀請他們參加印度總統(tǒng)穆爾穆將于周六舉行的晚宴，邀請函上的署名是“巴拉特總統(tǒng)”，而不是習慣上的“印度總統(tǒng)”。 印度有 14 億人口，擁有 20 多種官方語言，印度和巴拉特都是印度的官方名稱。 “巴拉特”是印地語，和“印度”可以互換，印度護照同時使用了這兩個詞。 在近十年的執(zhí)政生涯中，印度總理納倫德拉?莫迪刻意擺脫印度殖民歷史。此次G20峰會首次在印度舉辦，莫迪期待提升新德里的全球影響力。 被英國統(tǒng)治約200年后，印度1947年獲得獨立。傾向于使用“巴拉特”名稱的人認為，“印度”雖然在全球最廣為人知，但屬于殖民時代的歷史包袱。 印度這個名字源自印度河的梵文詞Sindhu，后來被大英帝國采用。 印度人民黨政治家哈納特?辛格?亞達夫說：“‘印度’一詞是英國人對我們的蔑稱，而‘巴拉特’是我們文化的象征。” 男子板球世界杯今年將在印度舉行，前印度板球明星維倫德?塞瓦格也敦促體育官員在球員球衣上使用“巴拉特”一詞。莫迪政府執(zhí)政期間采取了不少措施，引導國家擺脫所謂的“英國統(tǒng)治殘余”，并從“殖民包袱”中解脫出來。 這些努力還包括重新命名與印度莫臥兒王朝和殖民歷史有關的道路和建筑。 例如，2022 年，政府對Rajpath進行了重新命名，這條3公里長的林蔭大道也稱為Kingsway，即國王大道，貫穿新德里市中心。政府表示，新的正式名稱 Kartavya Path （責任大道）將“消除殖民思維的痕跡”。 2018年，安達曼和尼科巴群島中以英國統(tǒng)治者命名的三個印度島嶼也被重新命名，以消除“奴役的痕跡”。 但在G20邀請函上使用巴拉特讓一些反對派領導人側目。前外交官、主要反對黨國大黨議員沙希?塔魯爾在社交媒體上說：“雖然憲法并不反對將印度稱為‘巴拉特’，這是印度的兩個官方名稱之一，但我希望政府不要愚蠢到完全放棄‘印度’這個名字，因為它蘊含積累了幾個世紀、不可估量的品牌價值。”(Translated by Debra) | 