India vs Bharat: Embracing diversity or conforming to oneness? Experts debate 

Mumbai - The India versus Bharat debate that has been going on at length since independence has resurfaced amid speculations that the country's name might be changed. Speaking on Day 2 of the India Today Conclave Mumbai 2023, former Diplomat and Author Pavan K Varma said that while reclaiming India's past and history is good, the country's "unity in diversity" must not be bypassed and citizens should not be categorised under one label of nationalism. Opposing his views, Swarajya's Editorial Director R Jagannathan - who was also at the panel - said that 'Bharat' is our "natural rhythm [and] natural self". 

Varma said the debate of India versus Bharat, especially when both the names have been validated by the Constitution, is dangerous to the "unity in diversity" that defines the nation. "If you convert this civilisational unity through political means into a monolithic conformity imposed to strengthen artifical unity, you're going to create problems in preserving that [very] unity," he added. Therefore, Varma further said, the danger is when people are asked to conform to one monolith and told their version does not sync with the approved interpretation. 

Disagreeing with his views, Jagannathan said that the present India is trying to reconnect with its past and know "who we are" through our own eyes instead of the West's. "We are now trying to come to terms with who we are and our heritage...We are looking at the world with our eyes instead of the western eyes," he added, noting that this is where the India versus Bharat controversy is important as it highlights two ways of looking at the world. 

He said the country benefits from having both names - India and Bharat. "We should use what is opportunistically useful for us. If the outside world sees us as India, we should use it because we have to conquer the world in terms of trade... But internally, for our own sense of who we are, the idea of Bharat is far more important," Jagannathan added. 

Asked if the name India is an external imposition while Bharat is what we recognise ourselves with more, Varma said the name India came from 'Sindhu', which stands for 'Indus'. "India is not only how the world saw us but how we also identified ourselves as the culture and people who existed as a civilisation at the south of Sindhu river - Indus... that is why over time, India became synonymous with Bharat, which is what Article 1 of the Constitution says," he explained. 

Jagannathan, however, said that the country is in a transitional phase now wherein we are moving from an "elitist, self-hating and self-loathing civilisation" to something that largely accepts the "good parts of our history". He added that the name 'India' should not be confused with 'Bharat' because while the former is a geographical construct, the latter is our "cultural identity".