Prime Minister Narendra Modi today delivered a sharp retort to his predecessor Manmohan Singh over his allegation of "misuse" of the "Bharat Mata ki jai" slogan. "Some people are not comfortable with the Bharat Mata ki jai slogan," the Prime Minister said at a meeting of BJP parliamentarians today, without naming Mr Singh. '
Speaking at the launch of a book -- a collection of speeches, essays and letters of Jawaharlal Nehru -- Mr Singh last week said the idea of nationalism and the "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" slogan are being misused to construct a "militant and purely emotional" idea of India that excludes millions of residents and citizens.
The book by Professors Purushottam Agrawal and Radha Krishna, was titled "Who is Bharat Mata".
Without naming Jawaharlal Nehru, PM Modi also took a dig at him, saying "Even at the time of the freedom movement, some people felt the same way about the Bharat Mata slogan".
