SWAMINATHAN S ANKLESARIA AIYAR
(Editor in Chief for Times of India Group)
In my youth, I did not
hear of Bharat Mata. The concept began in Bengali literature, but the
BJP later made it an aggressive Hindu symbol. As a Tamilian, I see it as
one more example of north Indian imperialism. In 1965, north Indians
wanted to impose Hindi on Tamil Nadu in the name of nationalism. For
similar reasons they now want to impose `Bharat Mata ki jai'. Tamilians
revolted against the 1965 imposition, forcing the government to agree
that the use of Hindi must be voluntary . Similarly, the BJP and
Congress should now agree that any slogan like `Bharat Mata ki jai' must
be voluntary.
During the Independence
Movement, `Jai Hind' was the standard slogan. Subhas Chandra Bose
formed the Indian National Army to overthrow the British Raj. Its local
name was basically Urdu, ` Azad Hind Fauj'. It was not `Swatantra Bharat
Sena', as the RSS would have liked. Bose used Urdu, the language of a
composite India, for a multi-religious army with Hindu, Muslim and Sikh
commanders. One memorial celebrating the INA's entry into British India
in 1944 is substantially in Urdu. I dare Amit Shah, or anyone else in
the BJP , to call Bose anti-national for using the national language of
Pakistan.
The Indian constitution
refers to “India that is Bharat“.No mention of any Mata (mother). India
was in ancient times ruled by King Bharat, and hence called Bharat
varsha (land of Bharat). How did the male Bharat become a female Bharat
Mata? I wonder.
Bankim Chandra
Chatterjee's `Vande Mataram' was the first Bengali vision of a Mother
India. Artist Abanindranath Tagore was the first to portray Bharat Mata.
But he was actually not a Hindu but a Brahmo. The RSS has now converted
Bharat Mata into a warrior Hindu goddess. It seeks to make allegiance
to Bharat Mata a test of patriotism, rejecting as insufficient Bose's
Jai Hind.
In my youth, the only
Mother India people talked about was a film portraying a Hindu mother
who killed her son rather than let him dishonour the village. The film
was produced by Mehboob Khan, and starred a Muslim actress Nargis in the
lead role, with Hindu actors playing her husband and children.
Bollywood has always represented a multi-religious composite India. Will
the BJP say `Bharat Mata ki jai' (victory to Mother India) in memory of
Nargis and Mehboob Khan? If so, I will join the chorus.
My mother
once remarked wryly that she probably deserved the title of Mother India
more than anyone else. Why so? Because her eldest son, Mani, married a
Sikh. I, the second son, married a Parsi. Mukundan, her youngest son,
married a Christian. Her daughter, Tara, married a Hindu.And her sister,
Dr Alankaram, married a Muslim. My mother was a devout Hindu who spent
the last two decades of her life at Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh, and
became a sanyasin. She had a better claim to be called Bharat Mata than
any RSS icon.
(ToI-dt 27/3/16)
In her honour, let me say
`Mother India ki jai,
Bharat
Mata ki jai.'
(ToI-dt 27/3/16)
Courtesy
Perumalmaruthu