Be it showcasing his witty side or finding the perfect timing to jump on a bandwagon, former India batter Virender Sehwag has been acing the game like a pro for quite some years now. With suggestions around the official usage of “Bharat” instead of “India” gaining quite some traction these days, Sehwag recently launched Bharat-themed jerseys amid the country hosting ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.
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Via a video posted on his Instagram handle a few days ago, the 45-year-old remarked that while the life of a common Indian man is hardly bereft of compromises of various sorts, there shouldn’t be any room for the same while supporting “Bharat’ in the World Cup. Thus, keeping fans’ interest in mind, Sehwag attempted to persuade them to buy lesser-priced jerseys to support the Indian team knowing how most of them can’t afford the original merchandise.
“Support your team with all your heart, but not at the cost of empty pockets. Therefore, we have especially designed the Bharat jerseys at an honest price so that you’ll support team Bharat without any compromise,” exclaimed Sehwag while advertising the jerseys.
While the Bharat jersey mentioned in this Instagram post costs as low as INR 599, the original Indian men’s ODI jersey (with Dream11 logo on it) available at multinational apparel and footwear brand Adidas’ website is priced almost ten times higher at INR 4,999.
As far as this tireless push for the naming the country’s name solely as Bharat is concerned, the initial notable reference of the same in the public domain had grabbed limelight during the Group Of 20 summit in September this year when Draupadi Murmu was referred to as “President of Bharat” instead of the usual “President of India”. In fact, a huge section of the ruling BJP (Bhartiya Janta Party) has been arguing for the name “India” to be completely done away with as it, they believe, is a symbol of colonial slavery.
However, just like the country prides itself with respect to its diversity, the framers of the Indian constitution have made sure to hand both the names of the country equal weightage and regard. Words of The Article 1(1) of the Constitution unambiguously says, “India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.”
Regardless, the centre would need a simple majority in both the Houses of Parliament to pass the resolution on renaming India as Bharat. However, if they do succeed, the government will need to amend the Constitution in at least 10 places where it states ‘Government of India’. Too big an issue for a country which has a host of problems to take care of? Certainly the leaders would know better!
Virender Sehwag Had Requested BCCI To Replace ‘India’ With ‘Bharat’ On 2023 World Cup Jersey
Addressing Virender Sehwag’s personal love affair with Bharat, the same was on display for the first time during Asia Cup 2023. He had come up with a witty post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) using the hashtag #BHAvsPAK after the India-Pakistan group stage match was abandoned due to rain.
Along expected lines, the tweet became quite viral across social media platforms, and the ‘Nawab of Najafgarh’ pounced on the opportunity to put forward his argument in favour of Bharat. While he became the victim of the widespread fake news that the word ‘India’ was coined by the Britishers, he also requested the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and its secretary Jay Shah to have Bharat written on Indian players’ jersey during the World Cup.
However, just like temperatures rise and drop quite rapidly in our country, this very issue too got momentarily replaced with a seemingly another burning one in a few days time. Hence, the BCCI didn’t seem to have considered Sehwag’s request important enough to be taken into consideration or warrant an official reply.
