I love my India, but won't shout ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’: Owaisi to RSS chief

March 14, 2016

Mumbai, Mar 14: Rebuffing RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's suggestion, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi has said he will not chant 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' even if a knife is put to his throat.

Owaisi's assertion days after Bhagwat said the new generation needs to be taught to chant slogans hailing mother India drew sharp condemnation from both the RSS and the BJP today while he stood by his statement made at a public rally.

"We all love our country... I don't chant that slogan. What are you going to do, Bhagwat sahab," the Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad said at the rally in Udgir tehsil of Latur district in Maharashtra yesterday.

"I won't utter that (slogan) even if you put a knife to my throat," Owaisi, amid loud applause from the crowd.

"Nowhere in the Constitution it says that one should say: 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'," Owaisi said calling himself a proud Indian, who is ready to die for the country unlike those who raise slogans to fool people.

On March 3, Bhagwat had said the new generation needs to be taught to chant slogans hailing mother India, comments which came against the backdrop of the row over alleged anti-India sloganeering on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus.

"Now the time has come when we have to tell the new generation to chant 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' (hail mother India). It should be real, spontaneous and part of all-round development of the youth," the RSS chief had said.

Asked by reporters to comment on the condemnation of his statement, Owaisi said he stood by it, asserting there is no violation of any law or Constitution in what he said.

"Whom is he(Bhagwat) trying to frighten? He can't force his ideology on others," he said.

Ratan Sharda, author and RSS ideologue, accused Owaisi of playing politics on national feelings and asked, "If you say I love my mother then what is the problem."

BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh also accused Owaisi of trying to provoke nationalist sentiments, describing his statement as "highly condemnable".

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said statements like that made by Owaisi should be "completely avoided".

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‘Pay the worker before his sweat dries’: Madras High Court cites Prophet Muhammad’s teaching while ordering settlement of dues

News Network

December 21,2025

Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad—“pay the worker before his sweat dries”—the Madras High Court has directed a municipal corporation to settle long-pending legal dues owed to a former counsel. The court observed that this principle reflects basic fairness and applies equally to labour and service-related disputes.

Justice G. R. Swaminathan made the observation while hearing a petition filed by advocate P. Thirumalai, who claimed that the Madurai City Municipal Corporation failed to pay him legal fees amounting to ₹13.05 lakh. Earlier, the High Court had asked the corporation to consider his representation. However, a later order rejected a major portion of his claim, prompting the present petition.

The court allowed Thirumalai to approach the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and submit a list of cases in which he had appeared. It also directed the corporation to settle the verified fee bills within two months, without interest. The court noted that the petitioner had waited nearly 18 years before challenging the non-payment and that the corporation could not be fully blamed, as the fee bills were not submitted properly.

‘A Matter of Embarrassment’

Justice Swaminathan described it as a “matter of embarrassment” that the State has nearly a dozen Additional Advocate Generals. He observed that appointing too many law officers often leads to unnecessary allocation of work and frequent adjournments, as government counsel claim that senior officers are engaged elsewhere.

He expressed hope that such practices would end at least in the Madurai Bench of the High Court and added that Additional Advocate Generals should “turn a new leaf” from 2026 onwards.

‘Scandalously High Amounts’

While stating that the court cannot examine the exact fees paid to senior counsel or law officers, Justice Swaminathan stressed that good governance requires public funds to be used prudently. He expressed concern over the “scandalously high amounts” paid by government and quasi-government bodies to a few favoured law officers.

In contrast, the court noted that Thirumalai’s total claim was “a pittance” considering the large number of cases he had handled.

Background

Thirumalai served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for more than 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. During this period, he represented the corporation in about 818 cases before the Madurai District Courts.

As the former counsel was unable to hire a clerk to obtain certified copies of judgments in all 818 cases, the court directed the District Legal Services Authority to collect the certified copies within two months. The court further ordered the corporation to bear the cost incurred by the DLSA and deduct that amount from the final settlement payable to the petitioner.

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