MDMK General Secretary Vaiko on Thursday said it was beyond the powers of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to suggest the country’s name, ‘India’, be replaced with ‘Bharat’ in textbooks.
Mr. Vaiko was reacting to the statement by C.A. Issac, Chairman of a high-level committee of the NCERT, about the recommendation to replace ‘India’ with ‘Bharat’ in textbooks. He termed it as “highly condemnable” and a “clear violation of law”.
In a statement, Mr. Vaiko said Article 1 (1) of the Constitution states that “India, that is Bharat shall be a union of States”.
“If the BJP-led government wanted to change the name of the country, it should have first brought in an amendment in the Parliament,” said Mr. Vaiko, adding, “Article 368 provides power to the Parliament for simple majority changes and special majority changes. But it should have the backing of 66% of the members of the House. The BJP-led alliance does not have two-third majority.”
