The first session of the newly constituted Bihar Legislative Assembly began with controversy on Monday, 23 November, when AIMIM MLA Akhtarul Imam raised objection over the word 'Hindustan' while he was being administered the oath of office.
Imam, according to ANI, pointed out that the Constitution is above all else and stated that the Constitution refers to the country as “Bharat”.
Akhtarul Imam was being administered oath by pro tem Speaker Jitan Ram Manjhi on Monday, and chose to take the oath in Urdu, according to IANS.
Reportedly, MLAs can take oath in five languages - Hindi, English, Sanskrit, Maithili and Urdu. In the first four languages, the word 'Bharat' is used; whereas 'Hindustan' is written on the Urdu oath letter.
According to IANS, Imam insisted on using the word Bharat while taking oath in the Urdu language.
ANI, on the other hand, quoted Imam as saying:
“Oath is taken as per the Constitution which mentions ‘Bharat’ everywhere. I wanted to know whether it’s okay to say ‘Hindustan’ or shall I say ‘Bharat’ during oath-taking today. We’re lawmakers, we should place the Constitution above all.”