As India appears to be moving towards calling itself Bharat, we should not forget what the term Indian means too many on the sub-continent.

My late father was born during the British Raj rule of India, become a Pakistani after 1947 Partition and a Bangladeshi after its liberation in 1971. It was only in the late 1990s he become British citizen but during that time he and his generation felt comfortable with being referred to as being Indians. In his case his place of birth is still in Indian, so he would happily make this claim of being Indian still! For example it is well known that most of the Indian restaurants in the UK are run by Bangladeshis. And there is no contradiction here, if you remember that India refers a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-linguistic identity rather then the much more limited definition with Bharat which is intended by its advocates.

So l say, all of us with descent from the Indian sub-continent can lie claim to all being Indians, as we are all Indians now!