Mumbai: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party (AIMIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi has made a direct attack on RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat addressing a rally in Latur on Sunday, saying he will not chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai. His comments came in reference to the RSS chief’s March 3 observation that the 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,” Owaisi said, addressing a public rally in Udgir tehsil of Latur district on Sunday.
“I won’t utter that (slogan) even if you put a knife to my throat,” said Owaisi, who has a knack for staying in the limelight due to his alleged targeting of the Hindu community. He has been arrested several times for his alleged hate speeches.
“Nowhere in the Constitution it says that one should say: Bharat Mata ki Jai,” he said.
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On March 3, Bhagwat had said the new generation needs to be taught to chant slogans hailing mother India, comments which came against the backdrop of the row over alleged anti-India sloganeering on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus.
“Now the time has come when we have to tell the new generation to chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ (hail mother India). It should be real, spontaneous and part of all-round development of the youth,” the RSS chief had said.
Meanwhile, Owaisi has said he will “continue to support” the family of Ishrat Jahan.
(With inputs from PTI)
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