Bharat Mata Controversy, Yet Again

By Ram Puniyani for New Age Islam 18 July 2025 In 2016, RSS Sarsangh Chalak Mohan Bhagwat stated that the time has come to teach our new generation to chant Bharat mata Ki jai, at every occasion. To this Asaduddin Owaisi said that even if a knife is put on his neck he will not do so. Recently (June 2025) the issue was revived again in Kerala. The Kerala Governor Arlekar had organized a prize distribution program for the Scouts in collaboration with the education department of Kerala Government. In this program he put the image of Bharat Mata in the backdrop. The image was typical of the one projected by RSS. Bharat Mata looking like Hindu Goddess holding the saffron flag. The Education Minister of Kerala Government was there and he boycotted the program. He congratulated the winners and walked out. The Governor took it as an offense, while Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister of Kerala stated that this act of Governor is anti-Constitutional as Bharat Mata is not a part of Indian Constitution. Mr. Sivankutty, the education minister who boycotted the program very aptly said, “It is essential to ensure that Indian nationalism is not founded on a single cultural image, but on the inclusive and democratic vision enshrined in our Constitution. The Governor should clarify whether the Sangh Parivar’s Bharat Mata concept recognizes the borders of the country. India is not a monolithic entity built around any symbol, form or image. Our republic was born from a conscious decision to assert a pluralistic, federal and secular political identity. Calling the image of a woman carrying a saffron flag as the sole symbol of Indian patriotism ignores this fundamental reality. To suggest that patriotism should be viewed only through a single cultural perspective is not only simplistic, but also undermines the rich history of our freedom struggle,” Commenting on the display of images linked to the RSS in Raj Bhavan; Pinarayi Vijayan said that the Governor’s office should not be used to promote the ideological agenda of the RSS, referring to the display of images linked to the RSS at Raj Bhavan. The imagination of presenting the country as a respectable human figure was first conceptualized by Azimullah Khan, the close associate of Nana Saheb Peshwas in the mid 19th Century. He had gone to England to plead for issues related to pension for Nana Saheb. The atmosphere he saw there was one of hatred for Indians by the British. Out of self-respect for the country and country men, he coined the phrase “mader-e-vatan Bharat ki jai’. (Hail the mother Nation) This was used by the people here quite extensively. Later Avnindranath Chatterjee drew a figure of religion neutral woman as Bharat Mata. During the freedom movement many slogans were used to enthuse the people in the struggle against the British. Jawaharlal Nehru presented Bharat Mata in a lovely way. One of the episodes of Bharat Ek Khoj by Shyam Benegal based on Nehru’s ‘Discovery of India’ deals with the issue. Nehru is addressing a public meeting in a village. The audience is shouting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jay’. Nehru asks the people who is Bharat Mata. They respond variously that Bharat Mata is the mountains, rivers, jungles and the land of the country. Adding on to this Nehru says that yes, they are Bharat Mata, but above all Bharat Mata is the collectivity of people of India. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in his novel Anand Math gives a total Hindu Goddess image of Bharat Mata and composes Vande Matram around that. In this song the total imagery after the first to stanzas is that of a Hindu goddess. That was the reason that only its first two stanzas were kept as National Song while a more plural and inclusive ‘Jana Man Gan’ by Rabindra Nath Tagore was chosen as the National Anthem. As RSS has a different version of Nationalism, the Hindu Nationalism, they tried to defame Jan Gan Man as being written in praise of George V. As per them word ‘Adhinayak’ stands for George V, while Tagore himself clarified that Adhinayak here stands for the power which has been shaping the destiny of our nation from centuries. In 2020, as pointed out above, Bhagwat wanted all the youth to make it a habit to chant this slogan at every suitable time. While releasing the book ‘Kaun hai Bharat Mata’ by eminent academic Purushottam Agarwal, the ex-Prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh made a very important observation. We know the slogan of Bharat Mata ki jai is raised by a section of people. There are also people who want to impose this on everybody, he said that nationalism and the Bharat Mata Ki Jai slogan were “being misused to construct a militant and purely emotional idea of India that excludes millions of residents and citizens.” One can add to this that the Kerala Governor is using his constitutional post to propagate the symbolism of RSS ideology. As the country of ours is very diverse and plural, our symbolism best comes in the one’s selected by the Constituent Assembly. RSS inspired Bharat Mata carries a saffron flag which is contrary to the tricolour, adopted by our Constitution. As RSS is opposed to the Indian Constitution, it also criticizes the tricolour, our flag. For RSS number three does not spell good omen. Its ideologues have been regularly argued that the saffron flag is our national flag. Incidentally in RSS Shakhas, it is saffron that is hoisted. The Saffron flag is also regarded as the Guru of RSS. Also RSS did not hoist tricolour on its head office for 52 years. As far as the Governor Arlekar following the practice which is not in tune with the Constitution, we should know that for RSS trained Swayamsevak’s and Pracharaks, RSS and its ideology come first and foremost. Let’s recall the Janata Government formed in the elections which were held in the aftermath of lifting Emergency. The RSS’s political offspring Bhartiya Jansangh (BJS) had merged into the Janata Party. So, some members of Janata party called for the BJS component to cut off their relations with RSS. Instead of that they preferred to walk out of Janata party and form Bhartiya Janata party. Can we expect those with RSS background to follow the norms of the Constitution rather than following the norms which suit their Hindu Nationalist ideology? 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