New Delhi: Joining the 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' bandwagon, senior Gujarat BJP leader Dilip Sanghani has passed a diktat which cautions the aspiring students to compulsorily write the slogan on their entrance forms to get admission in his school.
“'Bharat Mata ki Jai' should be written on entrance forms to get admission in my schools,” CNN-IBN quoted Sanghani as saying.
An educational trust in Amreli — Shree Patel Vidhyarthi Ashram Trust which is headed by Gujarat BJP leader Dilip Sanghani — has brought right to education within the ambit of the raging controversy and declared that students seeking admission to its institutes will have to write 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' on their application forms, or lose admission.
According to sources, the decision was taken in a trust meeting on Sunday. The trust runs a primary school, two high schools and a college in Amreli. Currently, around 4,500 students study in the four institutes.
Till now, the slogan was being equated with patriotism by those in favour of it while the ones against it quoted religious freedom or Indian Constitution to not chant it.
Adding fuel to the fire, yoga guru Ramdev had said that but for the rule of law he would have "beheaded" lakhs of people for refusing to chant the slogan, drawing sharp condemnation today from opposition parties.
Ramdev's outburst came against the backdrop of AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi's recent remarks that he will not chant 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' even if a knife is put to his throat.
"If any religion prohibits chanting of Bharat Mata ki Jai it is against national interest," Ramdev said addressing a 'Sadbhavna Sammelan' in Rohtak yesterday, holding that the chant is about the motherland and not any religion.
Earlier, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, too, had spoken out in favour of chanting the slogan.
CPI-M leader Brinda Karat however alleged that the Modi government has given a "virtual license" to Hindutva elements to selectively use slogans which divides the country instead of uniting it.
