After an MLA was ousted from the Maharshtra assembly after he refused to chant “Bharat Mata ki Jai”, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) president Simranjit Singh Mann jumped onto the issue on Monday, saying, “Sikhs don’t worship women in any form. Hence, they can’t chant this slogan.”
Talking to media after meeting after two party activists in the Bathinda central jail, Mann prefaced his argument with, “According to the BJP, one who doesn’t say ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ is not a patriot and can be tried for sedition…”
“Sikhs should say ‘Waheguru ji ka Khalsa, Waheguru ji ki Fateh’,” Mann, a proponent of Khalistan, added.
He also said that the BJP must know that Sikhs “can’t say” ‘Vande Matram’ either. “Also religious scriptures like the Geeta should not be imposed on people from other religions as has been done in BJP-ruled Haryana,” he added.
Last week, All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen legislator Waris Pathan was suspended from Maharashtra Assembly after he refused to say ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’.
Few days back, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had said that he would not say ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ even if a knife is put to his throat.