The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly was adjourned for sometime on Wednesday following a noisy protest by BJP MLAs over a remark about ‘Vande Mataram’ by Samajwadi Party legislator Abu Azmi. While raising the issue of riots in Sambhajinagar district, Azmi said that chanting ‘the slogan Vande Mataram’ was unacceptable to him. “Some people say that if one wanted to live in India, ‘Vande Mataram’ must be chanted. We cannot do it. We believe only in one god”, he said. A ruckus followed as BJP MLAs took a strong exception to the statement. FOR an average Indian, a refusal to chant ‘Vande Mataram’ is unfathomable. But time and again, some politically-driven person stands up to cater to certain strange narrative and refuses to chant ‘Vande Mataram’, as did Samajwadi Party legislator Mr. Abu Azmi. And to make things worse, he said, “we believe only in one god” -- as if chanting ‘Vande Mataram’ is a statement about some ‘other’ god or many gods. This is utter nonsense, to say the least, totally unacceptable to the country’s people. The ruckus in the Maharashtra legislature was followed by many heated arguments during televisions debates all over the country.

 

There were people who insisted that ‘Vande Mataram’ was not acceptable to them. And then a spokesman of the Samajwadi Party said, in effect, that he would rather say Madar e Vatan (in Urdu). Of course, most such people were hooted out or defeated during those debates, all right. Obviously, such a perverse argument will have no takers in the larger Indian society. It is obvious to everybody across the board that the debate about ‘Vande Mataram’ is political in nature. Those who oppose even the two words ‘Vande Mataram’ believe that they stem from the Hindutva agenda of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). They do not mind saying Madar e Vatan in the place of ‘Vande Mataram’, if some statements were to be believed. It is obvious, thus, that the opposition to the idea of chanting ‘Vande Mataram’ has got no meaning, Despite this, a section of people continue to insist that chanting ]Vande Mataram’ is unacceptable to them.

 

What a pity! For, chanting this slogan, countless numbers of people stood tall and strong against the oppression of the British police and braved not just lathi blows but also bullets and an eventual death. Countless numbers went to jail shouting the slogan ‘Vande Mataram’ or ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ or ‘Inquilab Zindabad’. And all those patriots belonged to all castes, creeds and religious faiths -- Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Parsis ... ! Their respective faiths did not stop them from chanting ‘Vande Mataram’ -- simply because their minds were not clogged by divisive political thought, their visions were not obscured by myopic narrative, their individual ideologies did not come in the way of making the courageous assertion of ‘Vande Mataram’ ! Yes, the slogan ‘Vande Mataram’ symbolised patriotic courage that went beyond narrow considerations of religious faiths. People used any language to express the same sentiment. Thankfully, in those wonderful days, the larger Indian society was fired by only one goal -- of Independence, beyond petty politics, beyond narrow considerations ! Today, however, some elements in our society appear blinded by narrow issues. Hence the opposition to ‘Vande Mataram’. Hence the insistence that the two golden words symbolise Hindutva agenda. Hence the dirty political narrative that goes viral every now and then in our society. Bah ! These opponents of ‘Vande Mataram’ insist that their faith does not allow them to say the two words. But a vast, vast majority of people belonging to that faith has no problem with ‘Vande Mataram’. That is so because their vision is not blocked, their minds are not clogged, their free-flowing thoughts are not choked. That is where India lives -- in such people’s hearts and heads. India does not reside in the heads and hearts of those who oppose ‘Vande Mataram’ senselessly. Unfortunately, this reality those people hardly see. And that is the reason why they stand rejected by the larger society in the general political process.

 

Their numbers are dwindling in elected houses. Their appeal is ignored by the voters. Their attempt to divide the larger society on petty issues falls flat -- though they refuse to see the reality of their own dirty design. The question is not about one political leader or his party; it is about the tendency they represent -- the tendency to keep driving a political wedge through the otherwise sane society. The trouble is with their rotten mindset, their negativism, their refusal to understand the truth of India -- that for the Indian society, India is Mother India. It is time to ignore such a perversity. It is time to start building afresh a social narrative that talks of India as Mother India, and the whole world one wonderful family.