A leader of pro-Hindu BJP party wants morning prayer calls from mosques and sounds of bells from churches be replaced with shouts of nationalist slogans.
President of the Bihar unit of the party Nityanand Rai said “sound of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ (hail mother India) should replace azaan from mosques and sounds of bells from churches.” He was speaking at a BJP function in Patna Aug 8. However, he made U-turn soon, reported media.
After realizing that he has made a controversial statement, Rai corrected himself before the media and said: “I told that sound of Bharat Mata Ki Jai and Vande Matram should come from mosque and church and did not mean in place of azaan and bell.”
The function, the Sankalp Sammelan of the BJP to honour all the 12 ministers of the party in the newly formed coalition government in Bihar, also turned controversial when Vinod Kumar Singh, state minister for Minister of Mines and Geology, made a similar demand.
Singh wanted all people to join him in loudly shouting “Bharat Mata Ki Jai.” However, when the media persons present did not shout “Bharat Mata Ki Jai,” he expressed his displeasure and anger over it.
