Uttarakhand CM's 'Akhand Bharat' Map Stirs Row Before Swearing-In

BJP's Pushkar Singh Dhami will be Uttarakhand's third CM in the last four months.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister's 'Akhand Bharat' map stirs row before swearing-in

(Photo: Samarth Grover/The Quint)

Before the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Pushkar Singh Dhami took oath as the new chief minister of Uttarakhand on Sunday, 4 July, he landed in a controversy over tweet containing a so-called map of ‘Akhand Bharat (undivided India), which leaves out parts of Ladakh and areas currently occupied by Pakistan.

This comes just days after Twitter had displayed a distorted map of India on its website, for which it had faced the citizens’ anger. Two FIRs were also filed against Twitter India Managing Director Manish Maheshwari soon after. Similarly, last year, Twitter had depicted Leh as part of China.

Dhami will be the state’s third chief minister within the last four months. He had tweeted the controversial map back in 2015.

Under the distorted map, it reads, “Akhand Bharat Sankalp Divas (Undivided India Resolution Day)." However, the map missed out key parts of present-day India.

Twitter users pointed out that the Indian map, demarcated by a white line on the orange background, left out parts of Ladakh and the areas currently occupied by Pakistan. Further, several of India’s neighbours, demarcated by white borders, made up this “Undivided India”.

Several Twitter users reacted to the inaccurate map.

Dhami took oath at 5 pm on Sunday. The 45-year-old was named for the top post on Saturday, after Tirath Singh Rawat resigned from the post amid infighting in the BJP state unit.

However, the BJP has denied any rift within the state unit. Moreover, the new CM was quoted as saying that he will turn the "challenge" of 2022 Assembly polls "into an opportunity," NDTV reported.

(With inputs from NDTV)