Kangana Ranaut in Favour of India Being Renamed as Bharat: ‘It’s Not Our Name, We Are Bhartiya’ – News18

Kangana Ranaut weighed in on the reports that India could be renamed Bharat. Taking to X (previously known as Twitter), and said she is in favour of the renaming. The actress reminded fans that she had voiced her thoughts on renaming the country two years ago and continues to strongly support the stand. She claimed that the citizens of the country were named Indians because ‘that was our new identity given to us by British.’ She added that the name Bharat is ‘meaningful’ but India has no meaning.

“What is there to love in this name? First of all they couldn’t pronounce ‘Sindhu’ toh usko bigad ke ‘ Indus’ kar diya. Phir kabhi Hindos kabhi Indos kuch bhi gol mol karke India bana diya. From the time of Mahabharata, all the kingdoms who participated in the Great War of Kurukshetra came under one continent called Bharat so why were they calling us Indu Sindu??” she wrote, replying to a social media user.

“Also the name Bharat is so meaningful, what is the meaning of India? I know they called Red Indians that because in olden English Indian simply meant a slave, they named us Indians because that was our new identity given to us by British. Even in olden days dictionary Indian’s meaning was mentioned as slave they recently changed it. Also it’s not our name we are Bhartiya not Indians,” she added.

In 2021, Kangana had called for the abolition of the name India. At the time, she posted on Instagram, “British gave us slave name India… which literally means east of Indus River. Really would you call a child small nose or second born or worse C section. What kind of a name is this? So rudimentary. Let me tell you meaning of Bharat. It’s made of three Sanskrit words BH (bhav), Ra (rag), ta (tal). Yes that’s who we were before we were enslaved, most culturally and aesthetically evolved civilisation. Every name has a vibration and British knew this they not only gave new names to places but even to people and important monuments. We must regain our lost glory, let’s start with the name Bharat.”

Amitabh Bachchan also shared a cryptic post on X amid the renaming of India debate. He wrote, “T 4759 – 🇮🇳 भारत माता की जय 🚩 (T 4759 – 🇮🇳 Bharat Mata Ki Jai 🚩).”

For the unversed, it is widely reported that India could be renamed as Bharat. This has come forward after the official dinner invite to the G20 Heads of State featured President Droupadi Murmu as the President of Bharat. This has sparked a political debate with many divided on the decision.