File photo of Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister, Dinesh Sharma. (Express Photo) File photo of Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister, Dinesh Sharma. (Express Photo)

In the latest linking of modern practices to ancient times, Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma claimed Wednesday that ‘live telecast’ and journalism began during the Mahabharata.

Speaking at an event organised in Mathura to celebrate ‘Hindi Journalism Day’, news agency PTI reports that the minister claimed that journalism “started during Mahabharata”.

The deputy chief minister cited various instances from the Indian epic to buttress his claim. Sharma said the mythological character, Sanjaya, sitting at Hastinapur, narrated the events from the battlefield to Dhritarashtra. “Yeh live telecast nahi to aur kya hai (if it is not live telecast, then what is it ?),” Sharma said.

The deputy chief minister also equated another character, Narada, with the search engine Google.

“Your Google has started now, but our Google started long time back. ‘Narad Muni’ was the epitome of information. He could reach anywhere and transfer a message from one place to another by saying ‘Narayana’ three times,” Sharma said.

Sharma said people should remember their glorious past and history.

Not the first

Sharma isn’t the first leader to claim modern inventions originated in India during the Mahabharata.

Tripura chief minister Biplab Deb had invited ridicule after claiming that the internet existed during the Mahabharata. He even defended the claim. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in a 2014 function in Mumbai that genetic science had existed during the Mahabharata.

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