Kozhikode: Meenakshi Lekhi, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture lambasted the crowd at the ‘Awake Youth for Nation’ programme held here on Saturday for being reluctant to chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ aloud along with her at the end of her speech. 

The incident happened at the event held in Kandamkulam Jubilee Hall in the city. Concluding her speech, Meenakshi Lekhi chanted ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ aloud in the hall. However, there was a lukewarm response from the crowd who refused to repeat the chant. This irked the union minister.

"Is Bharat only my mother or your mother as well? Tell me...Tell me...Is there any doubt? No doubt?...Enthusiasm needs to be expressed," the Union Minister of State for External Affairs & Culture said.

She repeated the slogan and said that the response from the left side audience was still poor.

Pointing at a woman in the audience, Lekhi said, "the lady in yellow (dress) can stand up. Don't look on to the sides. This is how I am going to speak to you. I am going to ask you a straight question. Bharat is not your mother?... Why this attitude?"

Lekhi again chanted Bharat Mata Ki Jai. The woman was still standing idle, doing nothing.

"I think you should leave the house," she said.

The minister also made it clear that someone who does not feel proud of the nation and who finds it embarrassing to speak about India, need not be part of the youth conclave. 

With PTI inputs