New Delhi, Apr 3 (DHNS): After RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ remarks, his deputy Bhaiyyaji Joshi has said ‘Vande Mataram’ is the real national anthem as opposed to the ‘Constitutionally-mandated’ Jana Gana Mana.

“Jana Gana Mana is today our national anthem. It has to be respected. There is no reason why it should evoke any other sentiment,” RSS General Secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi said.

“But it is the national anthem as decided by the Constitution. If one considers the true meaning, then Vande Mataram is the national anthem,” he was quoted in news reports as saying at a function at the Deendayal Upadhyay Research Institute in Mumbai a day ago.

Sensing a fresh controversy following the RSS deputy chief's remark, RSS spokesperson Manmohan Vaidya on Saturday clarified that Joshi had “nowhere” stated he has asked for any change in the national anthem or flag. He held that Joshi was only deliberating on the difference between “Rajya” (state power) and “Rashtra” (the nation) and wanted “all of us should equally respect and adore both the national anthem and the national song.”

Vaidya quoted Joshi as saying that “in 1947, the Constituent Assembly had adopted the Tiranga (tri-colour) as our state flag and it was subsequently retained as that of the Republic of India. It is mandatory that every citizen of Bharat should respect. The saffron flag has been revered by the people of Bharat since time immemorial as the symbol of ancient culture.”

The RSS spokesperson said Joshi was of the view that “similarly, when Jana Gana Mana describes the idea of Rajya (state), Vande Mataram denotes our cultural identity and our devotion to it. All of us should equally respect and adore both the national anthem and the national song.”

Joshi’s comment came after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had said on March 27 that “we want the whole world to chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. We want to make Bharat (India) rich, free from exploitation and full of self-respect. For that we will have to live that Bharat in our lives.”

Bhagwat’s comment was opposed by MIM leader and MP Asaduddin Owaisi.

However, a day later Bhagwat asked the organisation’s cadres to refrain from forcing people to chant ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ slogan.

‘Vande Mataram’ (“I praise thee, Mother”) is a poem by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. Meanwhile, a day after largest Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband issued a “fatwa” saying Muslims should not say “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”, Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani on Saturday said everybody had the right to chant the slogan for the sake of the motherland.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said, “All those who try and do petty politics in the name of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ are really trying to divide this country. The ones who raise this controversy and the ones who issue fatwas need to be condemned with the strongest force at our command.”