Bharat
Mata Ki Jai : Is chanting everything else is Anti-National ?
A debate started in the wake up of the row kicked
up by AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi with the remark that he would not say
‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ instead was ready to chant ‘Jai Hind’
On the other hand, the Bharatiya Janata Party says except everything
for not chanting only Bharat Mata Ki Jai, is anti-national a.nd one who doesn’t
say it, not a patriot and can be tried for sedition
The Yog Guru, Baba Ram Dev has also said that the
Centre should bring an amendment in law to promote the chanting of the slogan
so that everyone says it.
Even though it is not written in the Constitution
that one should say ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ but there should be no problem in
chanting it. At the same, the real
freedom fighters who sacrificed their everything for the cause of freedom of
India, had never put such a condition like chanting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ as a
proof of ‘Love & Respect’ for the nation.
If we go back, Subhash Chander Bose popularly
called Netaji said Jai Hind, Bhagat Singh said Inqlab Zindabad and Hindustan
Zindabad and now BJP under the influence of RSS insists for Bharat Mata Ki
Jai.
Different leaders have different logics for and
against this slogan. Recently, radical
Sikh leader Simrajit Singh Mann has said that as the Sikhs don’t worship women
in any form, the Sikhs cannot chant the slogan ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ – Hail,
Mother India). Sikhs should only say ‘Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki
Fateh.
Mann - who is a former Indian Police Service (IPS)
officer known for proponent of the idea of a separate Sikh nation of Khalistan
- has further advocated that BJP must know the Sikhs event cannot say ‘Vande
Matram’ either and Hindu religious scriptures like the Geeta should not be
imposed on people from other religions as has been done in the BJP ruled
Haryana. He even passed a resolution
under the banner of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) seeking a separate state of
Jat-Land by increasing the size of Punjab.
Breaking his silence over the issue, Prime
Minister Narendera Modi advocated saying that Bharat Mata ki Jai is not merely
a slogan. It was a mantra of inspiration to countless freedom fighters during
the independence struggle. It is the heartbeat of a billion people today.
It is an admitted fact that when you say no to
chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, it puts a big question mark on you as well as the
unity in diversity of the nation as the nationalism or patriotism is in
expression of humanity. Such patriotic slogan
comes from the core of hear only if you are wedded to nationalism and only then
the people around you will speak in your favour otherwise a hullabaloo is like
to crop up.
The recent example is what happens on 9th
February in the JNU campus. While Kanahiya
advocated for freedom from India while within India and chanting of slogans
were giving a wrong message. It too had
become a national issue as to why the agitation was on this particular day
which is directly relevant to the day of sentence to Afzal Guru, for which they
have no answer.
If we are living in India, we must speak about the
welfare of India, otherwise we have not right to be called an Indian.
Frankly speaking, there should no debate on this
issue. No doubt there is a need to
taught patriotic slogans to our youths who are the custodian of future of the
nation but the controversy over the slogan is meaningless and non-chanting of
slogan should not be termed as an offence to try under the sedition charges.
Moreover, the freedom of expression and patriotism
do necessarily co-exist but Constitution nowhere gives right for the
destruction of the country over the right of expressing dissent and
disagreement.
Our Constitution also describes India as Bharat
and it is certainly disrespect if one refuses to chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai. It is not merely a slogan; rather it is a
combination of word of inspiration for those who sacrificed their life during
the independence movement of India. As a
citizen of India, it becomes our duty, to maintain the primacy of our
Constitution.
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