The newly elected chief minister of Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami, has found himself in a huge controversy after an old map of India shared by him on Twitter surfaced soon after the news of his elevation to the top post in the hilly state became official. In his tweet from 2015, Dhami had shared a map of India, which showed Ladakh and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir not part of India.
Sharing the map on the eve of India’s independence Day in 2015, Dhami had written, “Akhand Bharat — the desire of every Rshtrabhakt.” Dhami’s map of ‘Akhand Bharat’ showed neighbouring countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh but Ladakh and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir were excluded the map of India. He had called 14 August, the day of Pakistan’s creation, as ‘Akhand Bharat sankalp diwas (day to vow for an undivided India).
No sooner did the old tweet of Dhami emerge, users began to demand an FIR against the Uttarakhand chief minister since multiple police complaints were filed against Twitter and its office-bearers recently for posting a distorted map of India on its website.
— Pushkar Singh Dhami (@pushkardhami) August 14, 2015
Twitter was forced to remove the controversial map of India from its website after it faced growing outrage for showing Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as a separate country. The development had evoked angry reactions with BJP leaders calling for action against the social media giant.
Days later, several FIRs were filed against Twitter India and its senior executives in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, both ruled by the BJP. According to news agency PTI, the FIR in UP had named Twitter India head Manish Maheshwari and News Partnerships Head Amrita Tripathi as accused. They were booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 505 (2) (public mischief). Charges under Information Technology Act section 74 (publication for fraudulent purpose) were also invoked in the case.
With FIR against Twitter fresh in mind, netizens have demanded a similar action against Dhami for sharing the distorted map of India.
FIR must be filed against Uttara Khand CM for tweeting wrong map of India just like an FIR against Twitter has been filed pic.twitter.com/Aei4XCgKY4
— TheAgeOfBanana (@TheAgeOfBanana) July 4, 2021
.@Uppolice wake up from slumber! He has depicted India’s map wrong, arrest him, put FIR on him. Oh wait you can’t he is from BJP. Sorry goodnight go back to sleep. Wake up when students and farmers are demanding their rights. https://t.co/5OCVJkaAlh
— A (@aaseaakash) July 4, 2021
Shouldn’t bhakts object to this lowly ambition? Why are we leaving out China? https://t.co/IjB0cUYglm
— Ghazala Wahab (@ghazalawahab) July 4, 2021