Javed Akhtar speech in Rajya Sabha: Owaisi’s remark strikes the chord of nationalism in B-town

Known writer and Rajya Sabha MP Javed Akhtar has hit out on Hyderabad MP and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party (AIMIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi in Parliament. Voicing his secular views on the important issue, Javed Akhtar said that if the constitution doesn’t ask someone to say Bharat Mata Ki Jai it doesn’t even ask him to don a sherwani and topi.

 “He (Owaisi) said he will not say ‘Bharat mata ki jai‘ as the Constitution does not require him to say so. The Constitution even does not ask him to wear sherwani (dress) and topi (cap)... I don’t care to know whether saying ‘Bharat mata ki jai’ is my duty or not, it is my right,” Akhtar was commenting on the overall situation of the country where politicians are making issues out of non-issues.

Hitting out at RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s for his suggestion to chant the slogan to infuse patriotism, Owaisi had on Sunday said he would not say ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ even if a knife was put to his throat.