‘Bharat Mata ki jai’ : Some Muslims say no harm

Some Muslims say no harm in ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’ chant

Many Muslim community leaders assert that there's nothing wrong with saying 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', because it's a slogan hailing one's country and Islam doesn't prohibit its followers from expressing love for one's motherland.

Many prominent community members also allege there might be a tacit understanding between the BJP and the MIM to keep bringing up contentious issues.

"There was no reason for Asaduddin Owaisi to respond to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's comments on 'Bharat Mata ki jai'. Again, MIM MLA Waris Pathan should not have said he would not utter the slogan, which, in other words, means salutation to the country, something Islam sanctions," says Ghulam Peshimam, a local Muslim leader.

Many also say the BJP and MIM are feeding off of each other.

"The BJP needs a Muslim party like MIM to polarise votes in the states which will soon go to polls. India is our motherland and there is nothing wrong in praising the motherland or saluting it even if our Constitution doesn't make it binding on the citizens," says Parvez Lakdawala, head of the Indian Union Muslim League Mumbai.

Revoke citizenship of those not chanting 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai': Sena

In a scathing attack on AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi for his refusal to chant "Bharat Mata Ki Jai", the Shiv Sena sought revocation of citizenship of those who refuse to chant the slogan. The Sena also asked Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis why Owaisi was allowed to leave the state.

All India Milli Council (Maharashtra) general secretary M A Khalid says he would like to remind all Indians of Urdu poet Allama Iqbal's couplet in the poem, 'Naya Shivala (New Temple)'. 

"Pathar ki mooraton mein samjha hai tu khuda hai/ khaake watan ka mujhko har zarra devata hai (for you, an idol of stone is a god/every particle of the country's sand is a deity to me.)" 

"Can Owaisi and Pathan call Iqbal a 'kafir' for penning such a patriotic line? Love to madre watan or motherland is a popular expression and Muslims' patriotism cannot be doubted," Khalid says.