Chandigarh: An ugly standoff over chanting of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ dominated the proceedings of the Haryana assembly Wednesday, with BJP and Congress MLAs trading charges over who was “more patriotic”. 

After a free-for-all, however, almost the entire assembly, including the opposition, ended up raising ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ slogans inside the House while the session was under way.  

It all began during Question Hour when Education Minister Kanwar Pal provided a wrong answer to a question asked by the Hodal MLA Jagdish Nayar.  

This prompted former education minister and senior Congress MLA, Geeta Bhukkal, to quip that all that the BJP gets right is to chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’.  

“Inse to bas Bharat Mata Ki Jai Bulwa lo (All that BJP knows is to chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai),” she said. 

Following her remarks, all hell broke loose as BJP MLAs accused her of mocking the slogan. 

Home Minister Anil Vij said the attack was on him and objected to it.  

“What is wrong in raising the slogan? Are you all from Pakistan?” BJP MLA Aseem Goyal asked the Congress legislators.  

“We will raise it,” he added before proceeding to do just that. He was soon joined by party colleagues who all demanded an apology from Bhukkal. Speaker Gian Chand Gupta also joined in, saying chanting the slogan was no crime.

‘Nothing wrong but can’t be forced on anyone’

Congress MLAs Rao Dan Singh and Rajender Joon countered the BJP legislators, saying there was nothing wrong with chanting the slogan but it should not be forced on anyone. 

“Have we come from Pakistan that you should talk about it like this to us?” asked Congress MLA Shamsher Gogi.  

Another Congress MLA, Mohammad Ilyas, said only those who had sacrificed their lives for the nation had the right to say Bharat Mata Ki Jai. “The BJP has no right over this slogan. The party has emerged from the RSS, which was siding with the British when Congress was fighting for India’s independence,” he said.  

Ilyas was then joined by Congress MLA Kiran Chaudhary in raising the slogan in the House. 

The controversy in the Haryana assembly came a day after the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, the BJP’s Jairam Thakur had invited criticism over his remark that only those who chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ should stay in India. Thakur was addressing a press conference and was reacting to a question about the Delhi violence. 

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