The controversy around ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’, that started with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s suggestion for infusing patriotism, is reaching new heights every day.
A day after Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis’s comment on the slogan triggered a row, an educational trust in Amreli district of Gujarat has declared that students seeking admission to its institutes must write ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ on their application forms without which they will lose admission, reports The Times of India.
Shree Patel Vidhyarthi Ashram Trust which is headed by Gujarat BJP leader Dilip Sanghani runs a primary school, two high schools and a college. There are 4,500 students currently studying in all the four institutes.
The decision was justified by the BJP leader saying that it was the 104-year-old trust’s attempt to inspire nationalism in its students.
Sanghani said,”In the time when anti-national sloganeering is gaining momentum on educational campuses, we want our students to respect their country. So, we have decided to give admission only to those students who write Bharat Mata ki Jai. Our trust was founded by Mohan Veerji Patel, a freedom fighter. We strongly feel that a trust with such legacy of nationalism has a responsibility to invoke in its students the feeling of nationalism. The new rule will be implemented from upcoming term. Students who don’t write Bharat Mata ki Jai on the admission forms will not get admission,” the report adds.
This move is also seen as an attempt to get back in the limelight after being excluded in the new dispensation under state BJP president Vijay Rupani.