The Patriotism Should be In the Blood.

          

         A controversy is raging in the country now whether one should say 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' or not. That a controversy erupts on the issue of chanting slogans in praise of one's country is unfortunate. One of the two MIM MLAs, who refused to say Bharat Mata Ki Jai, have been suspended in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. Now, a question is raised whether patriotism consists in only saying the Bharat Mata Ki Jai. All these occurrences are not only irritating but nauseating as well.

       The arguments of the pseudo-seculars started as soon Owaisi spoke. The question is not whether one should or should not say Bharat Mata Ki Jai but whether we would question every icon of pride in this country. Some time ago, the hoisting of tricolor in universities was also criticized. The question was, and is, asked what such symbolism would achieve. Some even asked a very laughable and an irrelevant question whether the criminals would be pardoned if they said Bharat Mata Ki Jai. By raising objections like what hoisting of flags would achieve, why one should chant slogans, would it eradicate the corruption or whether the patriotism would remove the hunger etc., where are we directing our nation to?

      To proclaim that the constitution of the country is supreme and at the same time labeling Afzal Guru's hanging, who was executed after completing all due legal processes, as judicial killing in a program and to brand the program as freedom of expression; supporting the slogans of destruction of India directly or indirectly and all the same searching the validity of slogans in India's praise in legal books is a blatant falsehood. Such double-faced forces must be opposed in the country.

Representational image. AFP

         

      Some have claimed that they would not chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai because it was RSS' agenda. Actually, the statement that 'people in the country have to be told to chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai' was made by Sarsanghchalak Mohanrao Bhagwat on the backdrop of incidents in JNU. However, MIM's Owaisi bragged that he would never chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai even if a knife was held on his neck. His party's legislators ran the same line forward and said in the Assembly that they would not say Bharat Mata Ki Jai.

       Actually, Kiran Chandra Banerjee put forward the concept of Bharat Mata Ki Jai in 1873 and the song Bharat Mata and Vande Mataram appeared in the famous novel Anandmath by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 1882. It became a historic song or inspiration for the India's freedom struggle.

      Thereafter, the song Vande Mataram used to be sung in the Congress sessions after 1885. Vande Mataram was sung even when Muslims presided the Congress sessions. It was sung in 1887 when Badaruddin was president, then in 1896 when Rahim Sayani, in 1913 when Sayyad Mohammad Bahadur and then in 1927 when M A Ansari was Congress president. None objected to it until 1937 when Mohammad Ali Jinnah objected to it. On March 1, 1938 he propounded the thought that “Vande Mataram must go”. In the Calcutta session of Muslim League on April 16, 1938, Vande Mataram was opposed and the history that followed is known to all.

       Pt. Jawharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of the country, says in his Discovery of India, “When I went to public meetings, I was welcomed by the chants of Bharat Mata Ki Jai. I ask, who is Bharat Mata? The people in front of me gaped me in surprise...The hills, rivers, forests, agriculture here, income received from it and people living on this land...There is a common thread binding all them together...Bharat Mata. To say Bharat Mata Ki Jai is to hail all these people...they are the sons of this Bharat Mata”.

       Thousands of people sacrificed themselves in the India's freedom struggle saying Bharat Mata Ki Jai. When he was flogged, martyr Chandrashekhar Azad cried Bharat Mata Ki Jai with every cane he received.

          The reason all this today is that MIM wants to do exactly what Jinnah wanted to do. In fact, millions of Muslim brethren in this country have no objection saying Bharat Mata Ki Jai. The Muslims here claim their legacy to revolutionary Ashfaq Ullah Khan to Abdul Kalam. However, when a political party says that it would not chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai, one has to check the contexts. MIM runs the legacy of anti-India Razakar in Hyderabad. Kasim Rizvi, the leader of Razakars and MIM party, handed over the party to grandfather of Asaduddin Owaisi before he left for Pakistan. When one looks at this context and the history, one understands why it is necessary to oppose such vitriols.

         The first sentence in the preamble of the Constitution of India says, “We, the people of India, ....for a sovereign secular democratic republic”. Now, a democratic republic can take place when the unity, brotherhood and love among each other grows. The chants of Bharat Mata Ki Jai or tricolor not only remind us of our glorious freedom struggle, but also grow affection among us. Will chanting of slogans reduce the crime or end the corruption...laws are there to take care of that. However, if saying Bharat Mata Ki Jai increases the feeling of brotherhood, what is there to object in it? Bharat Mata is not an icon of religion or any organization. It is a slogan which inspired a slaved nation to attain independence. In Pt. Nehru's words, “Saying Bharat Mata Ki Jai is to hail the people in this country”. Then why should one object to hail the people in this country?

        The questions is now being asked as to under which rule this MLA was suspended in the Assembly. The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly has a tradition of members across the parties coming together on issues of wider consequences, leaving aside their party politics. All parties unanimously supported the bill in Legislative Assembly banning the dance bars.  Yesterday, when two members refused to chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai, the legislators were obviously enraged. Even there is no stipulation to chant these slogans, there no prohibition either. In fact, does one need a constitutional provision for the patriotism? There is no sense is asking legal and constitutional provisions for a sense which should flow in the blood. In such a situation, the unanimous demand by the enraged members to suspend the member who refused to say Bharat Mata Ki Jai is justified .

(Source firstpost.com: Bharat Mata ki Jai' controversy: Patriotism should be in your blood, writes Keshav Upadhye on 18 March 2016 )