Supreme Court dismisses plea to change India’s name

New Delhi: SC on Wednesday dismissed a plea seeking changing the country’s official name to Bharat or Hindustan, and not India, but said the petitioner can approach the government demanding the same.

A three-judge bench led by CJI SA Bobde sought to know from the petitioner, Namah, a Delhi resident, why he had moved the court when India is already called Bharat in the Constitution.

Representing the petitioner, lawyer Ashwin Vaish argued that the term India was derived from a foreign word and was of Persian origin. The CJI pointed out that the constituent assembly debates showed that this was debated at length before a call was taken on inserting ‘India that is Bharat’ in the Constitution.


He dismissed the plea and instead asked the petitioner to submit his petition as a representation to the home and parliamentary affairs ministries.