New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear on Tuesday a petition seeking the dropping of the word "India" from the Constitution and replacing it with either "Bharat" or "Hindustan" "to instil a sense of pride in our own nationality." Such an amendment will "ensure that citizens get over their colonial past," the petitioner has reasoned. "The removal of the English name, though it may seem symbolic, will instil a sense of pride in our own nationality, especially in the case of future generations,’’ the petition claims. Referring to the 1948 Constituent Assembly debate on Article 1 of the then draft, the plea said even at that time there was a strong sentiment in favour of naming the country as 'Bharat' or 'Hindustan.'
It said: "However, now the time is ripe to recognise the country by its original and authentic name, i.e. Bharat, especially since our cities have been renamed to identify with the Indian ethos." It was P V Kamath, who had brought the first amendment to the Constitution, seeking to replace the word India with Bharat. This is not the first petition of its kind. In April 2015 also, a PIL had been filed making a similar demand. It was filed by Niranjan Bhatwal, a social activist from Maharashtra.
Then CJI H L Dattu had issued a notice to the Government but another Bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice U Lalit, in March 2016, dismissed Bhatwal's plea, snubbing him, stating that the PIL is for poor people and "do you think we have nothing else to do.’’ It held that such pleas should not be entertained at all. "Bharat or India? You want to call it Bharat, go right ahead. Someone wants to call it India, let him call it India," the court had then said.
