Former India cricketer Virender Sehwag has urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India to have jerseys for the Indian team playing at the upcoming ICC World Cup bearing the name Bharat instead of India.
This comes on the heels of controversy over the fact that invitations for a September 9 dinner at the Rashtrapati Bhavan during the G20 summit had referred to President Droupadi Murmu as ‘President of Bharat’ rather than ‘President of India’.
‘I have always believed a name should be one which instils pride in us. We are Bhartiyas, India is a name given by the British and it has been long overdue to get our original name ‘Bharat’ back officially. I urge the BCCI (secretary) Jay Shah to ensure that in this World Cup, our players have Bharat on our chest,’ Sehwag posted on X.
According to sources, it is widely speculated that there is a special session of Parliament — slated for September 18-22 — where a proposal is being prepared to remove the word ‘India’ from the Constitution. The report added that there have been calls from sections of the ruling dispensation that ‘India, that is Bharat’ be removed from Article 1 of the Constitution and only the word ‘Bharat’ be used.