PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday delivered a sharp sting at ex-PM Manmohan Singh who had recently expressed his concern on the usage of the slogan ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’.
The PM said that it appears that some people get offended by people raising the slogan ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. He was addressing BJP MPs on Tuesday.
This was in reference to former PM Manmohan Singh’s recent remark where he called out on the misuse of the slogan hailing the motherland, to construct a militant and purely emotional idea of India, that excludes millions of residents and citizens.
He was speaking at the launch of a book titled ‘Bharat Mata’ by Professors Purushottam Agrawal and Radha Krishna.
“I am happy that this book makes an effort to revisit Pandit Nehru. Nehru had led this country in its volatile, formative days when we adopted democratic way of life, accommodating divergent social and political views. Pandit Nehru who was very proud of Indian heritage, assimilated it, and harmonised them into the needs of a New Modern India,” Singh said.
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“It is a book of particular relevance at a time when Nationalism and the slogan of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ are being misused to construct a militant and purely emotional idea of India that excludes millions of residents and citizens,” he added. It is this remark that got the ire of PM Modi.
He further said that the understanding of Nehru’s political and intellectual journey is a pre-condition for India’s survival as a democratic polity as a humane, compassionate society.