Spiritual leader and founder of the Isha Foundation Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, responding to the National Council of Educational Research and Training's (NCERT) recommendation of replacing India with Bharat in all textbooks, said on Tuesday that it was important for a country to have a name that “reverberates” in everybody’s heart.
Sadhguru, in a post on X, said, “We should have reclaimed the name ‘Bharat’ when the British left our shores. A name will not do everything but it is important the country is named in a way that reverberates in everyone’s heart.”
Sadhguru added that even though the country meant everything to the citizens, India had no meaning. “Even though the Nation means everything to us, the word ‘India’ has no meaning. If we are unable or unwilling to change the name of the Nation officially, it is time we at least bring ‘Bharat’ into our daily parlance.”
Congratulating the NCERT on the recommendation, Sadhguru spoke about how the younger generation should know about Bharat.
{{/usCountry}}Congratulating the NCERT on the recommendation, Sadhguru spoke about how the younger generation should know about Bharat.
{{/usCountry}}“Younger generations must know that Bharat existed long before India was born. Congratulations @ncert,” he said.
A committee set up by the NCERT to revise the school curriculum suggested last year that the term "India" should be replaced with "Bharat" in textbooks for all grades.
Read Here: NCERT to replace ‘India’ with ‘Bharat’ in textbooks? Council says ‘useless debate’
NCERT director Dinesh Prasad Saklani on Monday said "Bharat" and "India" would be used interchangeably, just as in the Indian Constitution. He added that there was no aversion to either of the names.
“It is interchangeable....our position is what our Constitution says and we uphold that. We can use Bharat, we can use India, what is the problem? We are not in that debate. Wherever it suits we will use India, wherever it suits we will use Bharat. We have no aversion to either India or Bharat. You can see both being used in our textbooks already and that will continue in new textbooks. This is a useless debate,” Saklani said.
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Meanwhile, as per PTI, Committee chairperson C I Isaac said, “The committee has unanimously recommended that the name Bharat should be used in the textbooks for students across classes. Bharat is an age-old name. The name Bharat has been used in ancient texts, such as Vishnu Purana, which is 7,000 years old.”