'Chant Bharat Mata ki Jai or leave India', Fadnavis' alleged remark sparks row
New Delhi: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has stirred fresh controversy by allegedly saying that those who have reservations chanting the slogan ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ have no right to live in the country.
“If you want to live in this country then you have to say Bharat Mata ki Jai, otherwise you have no right to live here. Some people say we will not say Bharat Mata ki Jai. Then what do they want to chant? ‘hail Pakistan’ or ‘hail China’?," Fadnavis reportedly said.
Read: BJP creating 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' row for political gains: Congress
Fadnavis' remarks landed him in trouble with chief Imam of the All India Imam Organisation (AIIO), Umer Ahmed Ilyasi slamming him, saying that people in responsible positions should avoid making such statements.
"No one has a right to decide as to who would live in this country or not. If you force certain things on people then it would give rise to hatred. People on such responsible positions should refrain from making such statements," Ilyasi said.
Another outfit, the Darul Uloom Deoband on Friday issued a fatwa against chanting of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai', saying that the slogan goes against the tenets of Islam.
"Bharat Mata, according to some Hindu sects, is a goddess and they worship her. For Muslims participating in worshiping a goddess would be un-Islamic, the fatwa said.
Jamat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) came out to back the fatwa issued by leading Islamic seminary Darul Uloom in Deoband against chanting of "Bharat Mata ki jai". JIH said that the attempts being made to use the slogan as a symbol of patriotism are wrong.
Meanwhile, Congress slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Fadnavis for his remark and said that the saffron party is fabricating the slogan for political gains.
"This is a completely irrelevant thing. It's a non-issue. The BJP is trying to make this into a controversial issue to try and show themselves to be great nationalists or patriots. The BJP and its predecessors had no role in the independence struggle. Its leaders once jailed actually wrote an apology to the government," Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit said.
He also said that it is only by constructing a false sense of national identity and issues like 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai', the BJP is trying to project itself as a patriotic party.
Dikshit further stated that the Maharashtra government has been facing problems and the Chief Minister is not able to perform there.
"The BJP came fourth in the local elections. So, quite clearly they are about to lose in the state. If elections are held today, the Maharashtra government will be wiped out. So how else do you comeback in popular support if you can't govern is by creating all these controversies," he said.
Last month, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi had stirred a hornet's nest by rejecting RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's suggestion that the young generation be taught patriotic slogans like 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' stating that he won't chant the slogan "even if a knife is put to his throat".
