In 2016, RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat stated that the time had come to teach our new generation to chant 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' at every occasion. To this, Asaduddin Owaisi said that even if a knife is put to his neck, he will not do so. Recently (June 2025), the issue was revived again in Kerala.

The Kerala Governor, Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, had organised a prize distribution program for the Scouts in collaboration with the education department of the Kerala Government. In this program, he put the image of Bharat Mata in the backdrop. The image was typical of the one projected by RSS. Bharat Mata looks like a Hindu Goddess holding a saffron flag.

The Education Minister of the Kerala Government was there, and he boycotted the program. He congratulated the winners and walked out. The Governor took it as an offence, while Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister of Kerala, stated that this act of the Governor is anti-constitutional as Bharat Mata is not a part of the Indian Constitution.

Mr. Vasudevan Sivankutty, the education minister who boycotted the program, very aptly said:

"It is essential to ensure that Indian nationalism is not founded on a single cultural image, but on the inclusive and democratic vision enshrined in our Constitution. The Governor should clarify whether the Sangh Parivar's Bharat Mata concept recognises the borders of the country. India is not a monolithic entity built around any symbol, form or image. Our republic was born from a conscious decision to assert a pluralistic, federal and secular political identity. Calling the image of a woman carrying a saffron flag as the sole symbol of Indian patriotism ignores this fundamental reality. To suggest that patriotism should be viewed only through a single cultural perspective is not only simplistic, but also undermines the rich history of our freedom struggle."

Commenting on the display of images linked to the RSS in Raj Bhavan, Pinarayi Vijayan said that the Governor's office should not be used to promote the ideological agenda of the RSS, referring to the display of images linked to the RSS at Raj Bhavan.

The concept of presenting the country as a respectable human figure was first conceptualised by Azimullah Khan, a close associate of Nana Saheb Peshwa, in the mid-19th century. He had gone to England to plead for issues related to Nana Saheb's pension. The atmosphere he saw there was one of hatred for Indians by the British. Out of self-respect for the country and countrymen, he coined the phrase "Madar-e-Watan, Bharat Mata Ki Jai" (Hail the mother nation)! This was used by the people here quite extensively. Later, Abanindranath Tagore drew a figure of a religion-neutral woman as Bharat Mata.

During the freedom movement, numerous slogans were used to inspire the people in their struggle against the British. Jawaharlal Nehru presented Bharat Mata in a lovely way. One of the episodes of Bharat Ek Khoj, directed by Shyam Benegal and based on Nehru's 'Discovery of India', addresses the issue. Nehru is addressing a public meeting in a village. The audience is shouting 'Bharat Mata ki jai.' Nehru asks the people who Bharat Mata is. They respond variously that Bharat Mata is the mountains, rivers, jungles and the land of the country. Building on this, Nehru says that yes, they are Bharat Mata, but above all, Bharat Mata is the collectivity of the people of India.

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, in his novel Anandamath, presents a Hindu Goddess image of Bharat Mata and composes Vande Mataram around that. In this song, the total imagery after the first two stanzas is that of a Hindu goddess. That was the reason that only its first two stanzas were kept as the National Song, while a more plural and inclusive 'Jana Gana Mana' by Rabindranath Tagore was chosen as the National Anthem.

Since the RSS has a different version of Nationalism, the Hindu Nationalism, they tried to defame Jana Gana Mana as being written in praise of George V. According to them, the word 'Adhinayak' (leader) stands for George V. Tagore himself clarified that Adhinayak here stands for the power which has been shaping the destiny of our nation from centuries.

In 2020, as mentioned above, Mohan Bhagwat encouraged all youth to make it a habit to chant this slogan at every suitable opportunity. While releasing the book 'Kaun hai Bharat Mata' by eminent academic Purushottam Agarwal, the ex-Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh made a critical observation. We are aware that the slogan 'Bharat Mata ki jai' is raised by a section of people. Some people want to impose this on everybody. He said that nationalism and the Bharat Mata Ki Jai slogan were "being misused to construct a militant and purely emotional idea of India that excludes millions of residents and citizens." One can add to this that the Kerala Governor is using his constitutional post to propagate the symbolism of RSS ideology.

As our country is very diverse and plural, our symbolism is best represented by the ones selected by the Constituent Assembly. RSS-inspired Bharat Mata carries a saffron flag, which is contrary to the tricolour, adopted by our Constitution. As RSS is opposed to the Indian Constitution, it also criticises the tricolour, our flag.

For RSS, number three does not bode well. Its ideologues have regularly argued that the saffron flag is our national flag. Incidentally, in RSS shakhas, it is saffron that is hoisted. The Saffron flag is also regarded as the Guru of RSS. Additionally, RSS did not hoist the tricolour on its headquarters for 52 years.

Regarding Governor Arlekar's practice, which is not in line with the Constitution, we should note that for RSS-trained Swayamsevaks and pracharaks, the RSS and its ideology take precedence. Let's recall that the Janata Government was formed in the elections held subsequent to the lifting of the Emergency. The RSS's political offspring, Bhartiya Jansangh (BJS), had merged into the Janata Party.

Some members of the Janata Party called for the BJS component to sever its ties with the RSS. Instead, they preferred to walk out of the Janata Party and form the Bharatiya Janata Party. Can we expect those with an RSS background to follow the norms of the Constitution rather than following the norms which suit their Hindu Nationalist ideology?