Will Sangh Parivar abandon slogan ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ coined by a Muslim, Kerala CM asks

MALAPPURAM: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday said the slogans ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ‘Jai Hind’ were first raised by two Muslims and asked whether the Sangh Parivar would be ready to abandon them.

Reaching out to the minority community in this Muslim-dominated north Kerala district, the veteran CPI(M) leader said Muslim rulers, cultural icons and officials had played a significant role in the country’s history and independence movement.

Drawing examples from history to prove his point, Vijayan said a Muslim man named Azimullah Khan had coined the slogan ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’.

“Some Sangh Parivar leaders who came here have asked those who sat in front of them to chant the slogan ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. Who coined the slogan? I don’t know whether the Sangh Parivar knows that his name is Azimullah Khan,” the CM said.

He remarked that he didn’t know whether they would stop using the slogan as it was a Muslim who came up with it.

Vijayan was addressing the fourth consecutive rally organised by the CPI(M) in the state against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

He said an old diplomat named Abid Hasan had first raised the slogan ‘Jai Hind’.

The translations of over 50 Upanishads into Persian from its original Sanskrit text by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan’s son Dara Shikoh had helped the Indian texts reach across the world, Vijayan further said.

He said that Sangh Parivar leaders and activists advocating for the extradition of Muslims from India to Pakistan ought to be acquainted with this historical context.

Along with others, Muslims also played a crucial role in the country’s freedom movement, the chief minister pointed out.

While talking about the Citizenship Amendment Act, Vijayan alleged that the “RSS-led BJP government at the Centre” is trying to turn Muslims into second-grade citizens in the country through the implementation of the CAA.

The democratically conscious people of Kerala won’t accept this move at any cost, he said.

He said that while the Centre claimed that the CAA was to give citizenship to refugees migrated from neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who seek asylum in the country, its real objective is to make the citizenship of migrated Muslim refugees illegal, the CM charged.

No country in the world has ever divided refugees on the lines of religion except the Indian government led by the BJP leadership, the CM further said.

Despite widespread protests across the country and the opposition raised by various countries, “the Sangh Parivar-led union government went ahead, overlooking all such objections, and it was similar to the stand taken by fascist ruler Adolf Hitler,” he said.

The Left government in the state was the first to register a loud protest against this in the country.

Though the LDF government tried to bring everyone across politics to protest against the CAA, the opposition Congress backed out of it later.