Razakars also objected to chanting 'Bharat Mata ki Jai': Venkaiah Naidu
Hyderabad: Intensifying BJP's attack on AIMIM leaders for their remarks against chanting 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', Union minister Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday said 'Razakars', who fought against Hyderabad integrating into India, had also objected to this slogan.
"I don't understand why people have objections to raising 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'. It has no religious connotation. It's not related to any religion. I don't understand what's wrong in this", the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said.
"The followers of Qasim Rizvi (head of anti-India Razakars who fought to retain the Nizam rule in Hyderabad before he moved to Pakistan) had objection to raising the slogan," he said at the sidelines of an event here.
This slogan only salutes one's motherland and has nothing to do with any religion, Naidu said, adding, "Those who forget their mother, mother-tongue, and motherland are not humans."
He was in the city to attend an event organised by Bangaru Laxman Charitable Trust which launched 'IAMDONOR' blood donation app.
Slamming AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and party's MLA in Maharashtra Waris Pathan for remarking that they won't chant 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', the BJP leader said, "Everybody should condemn it; society will not accept this."
Owaisi, an MP from Hyderabad, had kicked up a row after he rejected RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's suggestion that new generation needs to be taught to chant slogans hailing mother India.
"I don't chant that slogan. What are you going to do, Bhagwat sahab! I won't utter that (slogan) even if you put a knife to my throat. Nowhere in the Constitution it says that one should say: 'Bharat Mata ki Jai," Owaisi had said at a public rally in Udgir tehsil of Latur district on March 13.
Naidu asked, "If you don't salute your mother, who else will you salute?"
Referring to recent incidents in Hyderabad University and JNU, Naidu said out of 740 universities in the country, "such incidents" have taken place in just three or four of them.
"Some people, even some sections of the media also, are highlighting it beyond proportion because of their antipathy towards (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi. Very bad. We should desist from such things," he said.
Meanwhile, Naidu expressed happiness over smooth functioning Parliament and thanked Opposition its cooperation. "Some people had expressed apprehension that Parliament would not function. But when it works, it works overtime," quipped Naidu.
