Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh newly-elected General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale addresses a press conference during the ‘Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha-21’ in Bengaluru, Saturday, March 20, 2021.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Pitching India to be termed only as ‘Bharat’, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale questioned if anywhere in the world a country has two names, one in Hindi and the other in English.
Hailing the Rashtrapati Bhavan and the Prime Minister’s invitation card for G-20 printed as ‘Republic of Bharat’, Mr. Hosabale urged people to call India only as ‘Bharat’.
“Constitution of India is written in Hindi as Bharat ka Samvidhan, Reserve Bank of India is termed as Bharatiya Reserve Bank. Why do we need to do this everywhere? We must think about it and rectify it,” said the RSS general secretary during a book launch in Noida on Monday (March 10, 2025).
He questioned if anywhere in the world a country has a different name in English and different in any other language.
“Desh ka naam Bharat hai, toh Bharat hi Bolo. India toh angrezi naam hai,” he said.
Criticising the mentality of people who prioritise English over their own mother tongue, the RSS leader said, “Indians never felt inferior during Mughal rule, but the British instilled a sense of superiority of English culture and language among the people.” “This led to the persistence of “English-ism” and the prominence of English medium education in the country, even now,” he said.
“Due to Englishism, people feel that those who cannot speak English are inferior, which is why the prominence of English medium education persists. We need freedom from the colonisation of the mind,” said the RSS General Secretary.
Published – March 12, 2025 01:09 am IST
