Date:08/09/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/09/08/stories/2006090815340100.htm

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Vande Mataram sung in several States

Vinay Kumar

Isolated opposition to the singing by Muslim organisations

NEW DELHI: Amidst controversy over the singing of Vande Mataram, it was recited on Thursday in some educational institutions, government offices and offices of political parties in several States.

Penned by Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay in 1875, Vande Mataram had inspired the freedom movement. Its rendition on Thursday was prompted apparently by a widely held misimpression that the day marked the song's centenary.

The controversy was generated by a directive of the Union Human Resource Development Ministry issued in July, asking all the States to ensure that Vande Mataram was sung by all schools at 11 a.m. on September 7. The directive was issued on the request of Union Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni, whose Ministry was organising the year-long commemoration of the song.

The directive was, however, withdrawn last month but it had given enough fuel for stoking the controversy that soon acquired political overtoneswith the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party appearing keen on making it a political issue..

Along expected lines, all BJP-ruled States such as Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Gujarat witnessed collective singing of the song in schools and also at specially organised programmes. Reports of isolated opposition to the rendition of the song by some Muslim organisations came in from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

In Dehra Dun, where the BJP National Executive is being held, party president Rajnath Singh and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani led party functionaries in joining the Vande Mataram celebrations. At the party headquarters in the Capital, the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, led the collective rendition of the song.

At the Congress party headquarters, Seva Dal organised the collective singing of Vande Mataram.The song was sung in some schools and community events in States where its singing was not made compulsory. These States include Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi, Goa, Haryana, Meghalaya, Punjab, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.