New Delhi: “If not your mother, who would you salute, Afzal Guru,” vice-president Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday asked, apparently questioning why there were objections to saying Vande Mataram, which meant salute to the motherland.

“Vande Mataram mane maa tujhe salam. Kya samasya hai? Agar maa ko salam nahi karenge to kya Afzal Guru ko salam karenge? (Vande Mataram means salute to mother. What is the problem with it, if you don’t salute your mother, who would you salute, Afzal Guru),” he asked.

Mr Naidu was speaking at an event to release a book on former VHP chief late Ashok Singhal. Vande Mataram means praising the mother, he further said while referring to the people who are seeking to define nationalism.

He said when someone says ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’ it is not only about some goddess in a photo.“It is about all 125 crore people living in this country irrespective of their caste, colour, creed and religion. They all are Indians,” Mr Naidu said.