Why Muslims oppose this chant is for the simple reason that while Bharat is the country Bharat Mata is a Goddess, there also being a Bharat Mata Temple in Varanasi.
She is ‘the national personification of India as a mother goddess’ and Islam recognizes no God (or Goddess) except Allah.
Absolute monotheism is the basis of Islam without any scope of alteration. The declaration of Islamic faith, the Kalma states precisely the point that there is no God but Allah. Practicing Muslims repeat several times during the recitation of a phrase which translates into ‘You (Allah) alone we worship’.
Hailing any other God or Goddess renders one’s Islamic faith null and void.
Similarly Vande Matram translates to ‘ Mother, I bow to thee’. Bowing again is an act of worship allowed in Islam to be performed only before Allah.
From a Muslim point of view Bharat is the country which deserves one’s utmost love, respect and loyalty but it cannot be hailed as a deity as Allah is the only God for Muslims.
Muslims have no objection to saying ‘Jai Hind’ because Hind or Hindustan signifies the country and not a deity.
In light of above reasons no secular, logical and constitution respecting Indian can have objection to a Muslim’s refusal to recite ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’
That precisely is the point here. What a section of country’s citizens do not pray to and do not worship is being made into a subject of controversy by some people.
In a secular country like India people are free to worship or not worship what they do not want, and no one can impose his/her own beliefs on others.
Freedom of religion is a fundamental right guaranteed by Article 15 and Article 25 of the constitution of India and no one has a right to tamper with that.
No Indian has to go to Pakistan for refusing to say ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. It is those seeking to dislodge the secular fabrics of this country by disregarding others’ religious sentiments should leave India.