Hello? Will staff be penalized, asks Oppn

The Maharashtra Government Resolution (GR) dated Oct 1, under which Cultural Affairs Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar has appealed to all employees to use 'Vande Mataram' instead of 'Hello' as a greeting while addressing the public and other government officials or making announcements, has stirred a controversy.

While Mr Mungantiwar launched his campaign on Gandhi Jayanti, the Opposition Congress, Samajwadi Party and AIMIM have strongly criticised the government.

Mumbai Regional Congress Committee spokesperson Charan Singh Sapra said the GR was a ploy to divert attention from pressing issues like inflation, unemployment and fall of the rupee. “We are not against using 'Vande Mataram', but why the change?” Mr Sapra said. “Will the phrase bring down inflation, solve issues of unemployment? It is simply a ploy of divisive politics to garner votes for the BJP.”

Samajwadi Party legislator Abu Azmi said the state had always had 'Jai Maharashtra' as a greeting. In a tweet in Hindi, Mr Azmi said, “Sir Eknath Shinde, you are a Shiv Sainik of Balasaheb Thackeray; whenever he met, he greeted by saying ‘Jai Maharashtra’. But today, instead of ‘Jai Maharashtra’, the GR of saying ‘Vande Mataram’ suggests you, too, have come under the pressure of the BJP and the RSS who only know how to divide people.”

In his video, Mr Azmi further said Muslims cannot say 'Vande Mataram' since they only bow before Allah. "A devout Muslim will never bow down before anyone except Allah; we love our country but we can never say 'Vande Mataram'," he added.

AIMIM leader Waris Pathan said the Shiv Sena-BJP government was trying to deflect public and media attention from core issues. “They [the BJP] talk about renaming cities and other things. Will this solve the issues of inflation and unemployment? Their mentality has always been of diverting attention from pressing issues.”

He further asked, "What will happen if an employee does not say 'Vande Mataram'? Will they be jailed, hanged or otherwise penalised?”