Patna, Nov 23 (IANS):The first day of the newly elected Bihar Legislative Assembly witnessed a controversy when AIMIM MLA Akhtarul Imam raised objection over the word 'Hindustan' while he was being administered the oath of office by pro-tem Speaker Jitan Ram Manjhi on Monday.

Imam argued that he wanted to say the word 'Bharat' instead of 'Hindustan' during the oath ceremony. It was strongly objected to by the BJP and the JDU MLAs and some of them 'asked him to go to Pakistan' if he and other AIMIM MLAs had a problem with the word Hindustan.

As per the procedures, the MLAs can take oath in five languages -- Hindi, English, Sanskrit, Maithili and Urdu. In the first four languages, 'Bharat' is mentioned in the oath letters and 'Hindustan' is written on the Urdu oath letter.

Imam, who was elected from the Amaur constituency in the Seemanchal region, insisted on using the word Bharat when he chose to take oath in the Urdu language. Following him, the other four MLAs of the AIMIM also took the oath in Urdu.

The BJP and the JD(U) MLAs raised objections to this and criticised the AIMIM MLAs.

Neeraj Kumar Babloo, the BJP MLA said: "It shows the wrong intention of the AIMIM MLAs for not using 'Hindustan' word in their oath. If they have objection over Hindustan, they should go to Pakistan or any other country. They have no right to stay in our country."

Madan Sahani, the JDU MLA said: "Sometimes new MLAs, in a bid to draw the attention of everyone do something different. But the act of the AIMIM MLAs is highly objectionable.

"There is no harm in using 'Hindustan' during the swearing-in ceremony. Unfortunately, they didn't follow the tradition of the Bihar assembly," said Sahani.