Kolkata: Chanting 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' is a passion born out of love for the motherland and not merely a fashion, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Friday and wondered why fatwas were not issued when anti-India slogans were raised in universities.
"Every Indian is a nationalist, whether he is Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian. Love for his country is in his DNA. Chanting Bharat Mata ki Jai is all about passion not fashion. It depends on your own wish," the Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs said.
"If someone talks about destroying the country and raise anti-India slogans and a fatwa is issued against the person we would feel better," he said in an apparent reference to JNU and Jadhavpur University where the Centre claimed such slogans were raised.
Naqvi's comment comes close on the heels of prominent Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband issuing an edict asking Muslims to refrain from the chant as it is "akin to idol worship" which is against the tenets of Islam.
"We received thousands of queries after Darul Uloom Deoband issued a 'fatwa' saying 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' is not in consonance with Islam. But we love our country immensely and we can raise slogans like 'Hindustan Zindabad' and 'Madre Watan' (motherland)," he said.
In every religion the first duty is nationalism and love towards motherland, he added.
Meanwhile, Ashram Usmani, public relations officer of the seminary clarified, "It is not allowed in Islam to represent the country as a Goddess' idol and raise chants for her."
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