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  India   BJP, Shiv Sena slam Deoband over ‘Bharat Mata’ edict

BJP, Shiv Sena slam Deoband over ‘Bharat Mata’ edict

AGE CORRESPONDENT
Published : Apr 2, 2016, 4:48 am IST
Updated : Apr 2, 2016, 4:48 am IST

The political debate over chanting Bharat Mata ki Jai on Friday got heightened after prominent Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband issued an edict asking Muslims to refrain from raising the slogan as

The political debate over chanting Bharat Mata ki Jai on Friday got heightened after prominent Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband issued an edict asking Muslims to refrain from raising the slogan as it is “akin to idol worship”, which is against the tenets of Islam.

While RSS ideologue Rakesh Sinha accused the seminary of reflecting “pre-partition League mentality”, VHP’s Surendra Jain maintained that it is this ideology of the Darul Uloom of bringing the religion in every issue which is furthering the cause for terrorism as terrorists also cite religion for killing people.

The Darul Uloom, Deoband also faced flak from the BJP, which accused it of “communalising” nationalism, while NDA ally Shiv Sena termed it as a “new terrorism” and asked the government to nip it in the bud. In its political resolution adopted at the recently-concluded national executive meeting, the BJP had asserted that refusing to chant Bharat Mata ki Jai was “disrespect to the Constitution”.

Going a step further, Union minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said denying people the right to chant the slogan amounts to insulting the freedom fighters. “It is showing the fundamentalist side of Islam. Refusing Bharat Mata Ki Jai shows disrespect to martyrs of the country. It shows their mentality. They should understand that they are not living in Pakistan,” said Ms Jyoti. Her party colleague and Union minister Giriraj Singh saw an “international conspiracy to break the country” behind the edict.

Striking a balance, the Congress said it favoured every Indian chant Bharat Mata ki Jai with pride, but was equally against attempts to force someone to say it. Reacting to the edict, party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said one should often chant Bharat Mata ki Jai with pride. “I feel that opposing it for some reason is wrong, childish,” he said.

“We received thousands of queries on the issue so Darul Uloom Deoband has issued a ‘fatwa’ saying Bharat mata ki Jai is not in consonance with Islam and we will not say it. But we love our country immensely and we can raise slogans like ‘Hindustan Zindabad’ and ‘Madre Vatan’... It is not allowed in Islam to represent the country as a goddess’ idol and raise slogans hailing her,” said Ashram Usmani, public relations officer of the seminary.

The fatwa states that only a human can give birth to a human, so how can the country be called “mother”.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had recently stirred a controversy with his remark that the younger generation needed to be taught to hail “Mother India”.

Though he later said that people should not be forced to chant it.

Location: India, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow