India naming dispute

The **India naming dispute** in 1947 refers to the argument about using the name *India* during and after the division of British India. It was between the countries of Pakistan and the Republic of India. This argument involved many important people, such as Lord Mountbatten, the last leader of British Raj, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League and a founder of Pakistan. By 1947, British India was going to be split into two new countries – Hindustan and Pakistan. At first, Jinnah believed that Hindustan would not use the name *India*, since it did not have local roots there; etymologically and historically, the name *India* meant the Indus Valley (modern-Pakistan). The disagreement had big effects on national identity and international recognition.

## Origin of the name 
The name *India* comes from the Ancient Greek word  (*Indikē*) or  (*Indía*), which was changed into Latin as . In the past, the name meant the land of the Indus river. This river is now mostly in Pakistan and is the national river of the country.
 cuneiform on the *DNa inscription* of Darius the Great (c. 490 BC). It refers to the lower Indus Valley (Sindh) in Ancient Pakistan.]]The name *India* originally comes from the Sanskrit word . Which is another name for the Indus River and the lower Indus basin (Sindh, Pakistan). The Old Persian word for  became  or  () because the Arabs and the Persians spoke the letter /h/ instead of /s/. Darius I took over Sindh around 516 BCE, and the Persian word  was used for the lower Indus area in Ancient Pakistan. Scylax of Caryanda had explored the Indus valley for the Persian emperor Darius I in about 515 BC. Scylax took the Persian name  and used it in Greek. Greeks pronounced this name as *Indos* or *Indus*. The terms *Indos* () for the Indus River and *Indian* are found in Hecataeus of Miletus and Herodotus's writings.  The loss of the /h/ sound in  was likely because of the Greek dialects spoken in Asia Minor and the word became . Hecataeus used the term "India" and "Indians" strictly for the people in Sindh (Ancient Pakistan) only. Herodotus later used the term "Indian" for people in the lower Indus area (modern Pakistan) and all the people east of Persia, even though he did not know the land well. When the British arrived in South Asia, they used the term *India* to refer to the whole subcontinent. This led to the confusion with the name "India," as it came to mean the British colony that included both Pakistan and the modern Republic of India. After the partition, the modern Republic of India kept the colonial name that originally referred to what is now Pakistan (Indus Valley).

## History 
By 1947, the British Raj was going to be split into two new countries – Hindustan and Pakistan. Months before independence in August 1947, both Jinnah and the Muslim League were against the using the name *India* by Nehru's Hindustan. Jinnah was sure that Hindustan would not use the name *India*. Jinnah thought this because the name was not local to the area. Etymologically and historically, *India* meant the Indus Valley, which is now Pakistan. *India* was also a colonization term used by the British. Mountbatten became India's Governor-General, and Jinnah became Pakistan's Governor-General. Mountbatten sent an invitation to Jinnah, but Jinnah refused it.

By the 20th century, it was well known that the word India came from the Indus River. Yet even if Mountbatten knew Jinnah’s argument made sense, he would never admit it. In a 1973 interview, Mountbatten admitted he did not get along well with Jinnah and even called Jinnah a "bastard" during the interview. Jinnah strongly opposed the use of the name *India* by Hindustan because the name India, which had a long history, could cause confusion and mislead about history. The history of *historic India*, the Indus Valley (Pakistan), could be mixed up with the history of the modern *Republic of India*. The name was a reminder of history and known around the world.
 in the year 1922.]]
Many maps printed in the Republic of India after 1947 called the new country Bharat – the Constitution of the Republic of India officially names the country Bharat. Even today, many Hindu nationalists and Hindi speakers in India argue for the word *Bharat* to become the only official name of the country. The word Bharat comes from *‘Bharatavarsha’* (the land of the Bharatas), with these Bharatas being one of the early Vedic groups who moved from the Indus Valley to the Ganges Plain between 1200 BCE to 800 BCE. To many, Bharat would seem better since the term India was a colonial term.  It also lacked a local background, as the term India historically referred to the Indus Valley in Pakistan. Jinnah thought neither country would use the name *India*. He preferred the acronym *Pakistan* for his country and *Hindustan* (Land of the Hindus) for the Hindu-majority India. For this reason, Pakistan is often called by many the '*Real India*' and Pakistanis the '*Real Indians*'.

## Current situation 
### Bharat–India controversy 
In 2023, the ruling party in India, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been trying to change India's name to *Bharat*. The BJP says the name "India" is a sign of colonial rule and is not a local name for the country.

*Bharat* and India are both official names of the country. The BJP argues that the name "India" is a leftover from the colonial period. Naresh Bansal, a BJP member of parliament, said the name India is a symbol of "colonial rule" and "should be removed from the constitution." Bansal said in a parliamentary session:

Some cities and places in India that are linked to the Mughals and the colonial period have been renamed by the BJP. Critics say these new names are an attempt to erase the Mughals, who were Muslims and ruled the subcontinent for almost 300 years, from Indian history. A post shared by the South Asia Index’s X handle went viral and was reported by several media outlets. It said:Nationalists in Pakistan have long argued that Pakistan has rights to the name since it refers to the Indus region in Pakistan. Meanwhile, former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said that the original name of the country was "definitely" Bharat and that it was the British who started calling it India. Some Indian media have said that India using the name Bharat fulfills Pakistan's old wish since Pakistan has claimed this name since 1947.

## Notes 
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