Politics of slogan “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” in India

It is a very derogatory thing for our nation itself that our leaders are rasing very irrelevant words now a day, irrespective of the real issue. I heard that a well-known isolated leader Mr. Owaisi was trying to scrutinize the word ‘Bharat Mata’ as an anti-Muslim slogan which is very shameful. I hope he won’t know the meaning of it. When the media asked him about it to clear the stand then he was putting the words of so many former leaders including Mahatma Gandhi and Ambedkar to prove him as a right. But Barkha knocked him in her prime time about the actual line which was being hidden and eventually caught. I am telling one more historical background of the temple of Bharat mata, which is located in the Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth campus in Varanasi.

The temple houses a marble idol of Bharat Mata along with a marble relief map of India. The Temple, a gift from the Shiv Prasad Gupta and Durga Prasad Khatri, was inaugurated by the same Mahatma Gandhi in 1936, whose support is being taken by Owaisi to prove himself right. Mahatma Gandhi said, “I hope this temple, which will serve as a cosmopolitan platform for people of all religions, castes, and creeds including Harijans, will go a great way in promoting religious unity, peace, and love in the country.” Now I am quoting the words of Jawaharlal Nehru from one of the famous books ‘The Discovery of India’. I hoped Owaisi would have gone through it.

“Often, as I wandered from meeting to meeting, I spoke to my audience of this India of ours, of Hindustan and of Bharata, the old Sanskrit name derived from the mythical founder of the race. I seldom did so in the cities, for there the audiences were more sophisticated and wanted stronger fare. But to the peasant, with his limited outlook, I spoke of this great country for whose freedom we were struggling, of how each part differed from the other and yet was India, of common problems of the peasants from north to south and east to west, of the Swaraj that could only be for all and every part and not for some.

I told them of my journeying from the Khyber Pass in the far north-west to Kanya Kumari or Cape Comorin in the distant south, and how everywhere the peasants put me identical questions, for their troubles were the same—poverty, debt, vested interests, landlords, moneylenders, heavy rents and taxes, police harassment, and all these wrapped up in the structure that the foreign government had imposed upon us—and relief must also come for all.

I tried to make them think of India as a whole, and even to some little extent of this wide world of which we were apart. I brought in the struggle in China, in Spain, in Abyssinia, in Central Europe, in Egypt, and the countries of Western Asia. I told them of the wonderful changes in the Soviet Union and of the great progress made in America.

The task was not easy; yet it was not so difficult as I had imagined, for our ancient epics and myths and legends, which they knew so well, had made them familiar with the conception of their country, and some there were always who had traveled far and wide to the great places of pilgrimage situated at the four corners of India. Or there were old soldiers who had served in foreign parts in World War I or other expeditions. Even my references to foreign countries were brought home to them by the consequences of the great depression of the thirties.

Sometimes as I reached a gathering, a great roar of welcome would greet me: Bharat Mata kt Jai—’Victory to Mother India.’ I would ask them unexpectedly what they meant by that cry, who was this Bharat Mata, Mother India, whose victory they wanted? My question would amuse them and surprise them, and then, not knowing exactly what to answer, they would look at each other and at me.

I persisted in my questioning. At last, a vigorous Jat wedded to the soil from immemorial generations, would say that it was the dharti, the good earth of India that they meant. What earth? Their particular village patch, or all the patches in the district or province, or in the whole of India? And so question and answer went on, till they would ask me impatiently to tell them all about it.

I would endeavor to do so and explain that India was all this that they had thought, but it was much more. The mountains and the rivers of India, and the forests and the broad fields, which gave us food, were all dear to us, but what counted ultimately were the people of India, people like them and me, who were spread out all over this vast land. Bharat Mata, Mother India, was essentially these millions of people, and victory to her meant victory to these people. You are parts of this Bharat Mata, I told them, you are in a manner yourselves Bharat Mata, and as this idea slowly soaked into their brains, their eyes would light up as if they had made a great discovery.”

One thing I am not able to get that why these kind of stuffs are being tossed very frequently now a day. Hatreds are being filled on the name of religion especially for the coming generation. I am telling my real experience over such issue. When I was in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, there were so many Muslim friends. Everyone sang national song ‘Vande Matram’ and cited slogan ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ at the end of Nation Anthem without any hesitation. They played and lived with each other with a great pleasure. But if youngsters come out and hear like them such sorts of words from their respective political leaders then obliviously they would try to think on such baseless topic at least once.

Some of them might be diverted toward hatred of politics. This is not the basic issue of the Muslim community in India. Their basic challenges are still a live inaccessibility in education, unemployment, social ediction and basic alimony. Due to such politics the real issues have been lagging. People should asses the scenario very practically. Once again I am saying the no one would help Muslims except them only. Education could be the medium to achieve their goal. Once they get education they will definitely able to analyze and asses the practicality of the whole scenario.

It is not a healthy thought to suppose that RSS has given such slogan “Bharatmata Ki Jai” in order to make this country as a Hindu country. It is totally baseless thing. RSS was formed in 1925 but the image of “Bharatmata” formed with the Indian independence movement of the late 19th century. A play by Kiran Chandra Bannerjee, Bharatmata, was first performed in 1873. Abanindranath Tagore portrayed Bharatmata as a four-armed Hindu goddess wearing saffron-colored robes, holding the manuscripts, sheaves of rice, a mala, and a white cloth in 1905. The image of Bharatmata was icon to create Nationalist feeling during days of freedom struggle.

Sister Nivedita, an admirer of the painting, opined that the picture was refined and imaginative, with Bharatmata standing on green earth and blue sky behind her; feet with four lotuses, four arms meaning divine power; white halo and sincere eyes; and gifts Shiksha-Diksha-Anna-Bastra of motherland to her children. Famous Indian Independence activist Subramania Bharati saw Bharat Mata as the land of Ganga.He identified Bharat Mata as Parashakti. He also says that he has got the dharsan of Bharat Mata during his visit with his guru Sister Nivedita.

As I think ‘Bharat Mata’ is the combination of all the people of our country. They are Hindu, Muslims, Sikh and all the marginalized groups like Dalit and Adivasi. It gives us strength on the name of ‘Bharat Mata’ to unit ourselves for values of our country. When I was in class 8th, I got a chance to go to NCC camp at Gariharsaru, Gurgaon Hayana under 5 HR-B-NCC.

I saw there great unity on the name of ‘Bharatmata’, when it was being chanted at the end of the drill practice. So what’s wrong with this slogan if it could unit our solders to sacrifice for our country? It is also true that no one could force anyone to say like this. But there is something called ‘human value’, somewhere we should implement our human values too. Everything couldn’t be written in constitution. Javed Akhtar replied Owaisi very nicely “He (Owaisi) said he will not say ‘Bharat mata ki jai’ as the constitution does not require him to say so. But, the same constitution does not ask him to wear sherwani either.”