Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asked voters whether people who have a problem with chanting Vande Mataram or Bharat Mata ki jai should not forfeit their security deposit.

“For us, the chant Bharat Mata ki jai’ is our devotion and the chant of Vande Mataram is our strength. But some people have a problem with this. Shouldn’t the security deposit of such people be forfeited?” the Prime Minister asked at an election rally at Raj Maidan in Bihar’s Darbhanga town, around 130km north of Patna.

Many Muslims do not chant Vande Mataram — the worship of the country as mother — because Islam is a monotheistic religion.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate for Darbhanga, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, had recently told a television channel that while he had no problem in saying Bharat Mata ki jai, reciting Vande Mataram was against his beliefs.

“Those who believe in one God will never recite Vande Mataram,” Siddiqui was quoted as saying.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan, both BJP allies that claim not to share its views on potentially divisive issues like the Ayodhya temple, were present at the rally where Modi spoke.