RSS, Darul Uloom both trying to divide nation on 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai': Congress

The Congress Party on Saturday criticised both the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband for indulging in 'petty politics' in the name of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and said both sides are trying to divide the nation.

"All those who try and do petty politics in the name of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' are really trying to divide this country. They are two sides of the same coin," Congress leader Manish Tewari told ANI.

"The ones who raise this controversy, need to be condemned in the strongest terms, and the ones who issue fatwas, that particular slogan, in this case 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai', should not be shouted, need to be equally condemned with strongest force at our command," he added.

Darul Uloom Deoband yesterday issued a fatwa against the chanting of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai', saying that the slogan goes against the tenets of Islam.

"Bharat Mata, according to some Hindu sects, is a goddess and they worship her. For Muslims participating in worshiping a goddess would be un-Islamic," the fatwa said.

The fatwa added, "We love our country, but we do not worship it, Islam allows worshiping only one God."

AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi had stirred a hornet's nest by rejecting RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's suggestion that the young generation be taught patriotic slogans like 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' stating that he won't chant the slogan "even if a knife is put to his throat".