Can behead those refusing to chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’: Ramdev

In a statement that has potential to start a row, yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Sunday said he respects the Constitution of India or else he would have cut hundreds of heads for not chanting 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'.

"If someone says that he won't chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai even if his head is chopped off, I want to say there is a rule of law and we respect the Constitution, otherwise we can cut hundreds and thousands of heads," Ramdev told the media.

"People should be ashamed of talking such things and should give respect to their motherland," he added.

Amid the raging debate over nationalism, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said that those unwilling to say 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' have no right to stay in the country.

"There is still a dispute over saying 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and those opposing to say it, should not have any right to stay here. Those living here should say 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai," Fadnavis said at a public meeting.

Fadnavis, however, issued a clarification today and said that he had been misquoted.

"Media picked only 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and that too only a part of it. It clearly proves that a section of media is interested in creating controversy only," he said.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had on 3 March, while referring to the JNU controversy said, "Now the time has come when we have to tell the new generation to chant 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'. It should be real, spontaneous and part of the all-round development of youth."

AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi had later in a public meeting said, "Mohan Bhagwat I will not chant that slogan. What will you do? I won't say it even if you put a knife to my throat."

"Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that one should say Bharat Mata Ki Jai," he added.

Meanwhile, Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband had on Friday issued a fatwa against chanting of 'Bharat Mata Ki jai', saying the slogan goes against the tenets of Islam.