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Civic body in Yogi’s Gorakhpur pitches for ‘Bharat’ instead of ‘India’
Once the move is cleared, GMC would become the first municipal body in Uttar Pradesh to use Bharat, instead of India, on its letterhead, Gorakhpur mayor Manglesh Srivastav said.
The Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation (GMC) executive committee has initiated the process to replace “India” with “Bharat” on its official letterhead.
Once the move is cleared, GMC would become the first municipal body in Uttar Pradesh to use Bharat, instead of India, on its letterhead, Gorakhpur mayor Manglesh Srivastav said.
The proposal was discussed at the executive council meeting on Tuesday. It would now be placed before the GMC board at its next meeting.
The Gorakhpur mayor said the name “Bharat” was being used since ancient times and the British rulers had introduced the name “India.”
“Now, the time has come to remove the symbol of colonial slavery,” he added.
Once the civic body’s board clears the proposal, GMC would use Bharat in its communications.
Bharatiya Janata Party corporator Ajay Rai said all members had agreed to the proposal. Another BJP corporator Mannu Jaiswal said in 2014, the then Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath had raised the demand in Parliament to use Bharat instead of India. Hence, the initiative for this change on the chief minister’s home turf was a step in the right direction, Jaiswal said.
Samajwadi Party corporator Ziaul Islam said the SP had no objection as (the Constitution says) “India that is Bharat.”
Earlier this year, the India versus Bharat debate was ignited after the invites for the G20 dinner in September called President Droupadi Murmu “President of Bharat” instead of the usual “President of India”.
And when Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered the inaugural address at the G20 Summit, the nameplate kept in front of him read “Bharat” instead of “India”.
As the India-Bharat debate started to heat up, PM Modi had asked his ministerial colleagues to avoid the political row saying that it has been the “country’s ancient name”.
Meanwhile, the GMC executive council also decided to revise the rent of shops owned by the civic body as per circle rates and develop commercial complexes on its land.
Municipal commissioner Gaurav Sogarwal confirmed that a meeting with lekhpals and municipal corporation officials has already been held to identify the municipal corporation land at different places in the city and to free them from illegal possession.
Discussing traffic bottlenecks, the executive council decided that lanes near the roads in congested markets would be used for parking and the municipal corporation would allocate ₹15 lakh to each corporator for carrying out projects in their respective wards .
Executive council member Vishvajeet Tripathi claimed that the GIS survey for imposing house tax was not correct and needed to be revised.
Executive body members said as colonies developed by the Gorakhpur Development Authority (GDA) had no proper drainage system and sewerage line, the Municipal Corporation should take necessary action in this regard.
