BHOPAL: For the second time, mass rendition of Vande Mataram was held on Friday at Sardar Patel Park. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath led his cabinet colleagues, senior officials and people in a rendition of Vande Mataram. Minister for Law PC Sharma, DCC chief Kailash Mishra, Chief Secretary SR Mohanty were present in the programme along with officials/employees of Mantralaya, Vindhyachal and Satpura Bhavan.
The programe began with the procession at Shourya Smarak. Minister Sharma joined the procession at Smarak. A huge crowd voluntarily joined the procession that marched to secretariat’s park.
On Friday, ahead of the mass recitation, folk singer from Jhonkar village of Shajapur district Babulal Dholpure mesmerized the audience with his songs “Mharo Bharat, Mahan Pyaro” and “Hum Bharat ka Vasi re Bhai, Manav Hamari Jaat”. Spirit of patriotism filled the air scores of people sang “Vande Mataram” and “Jana-Gana-Mana” to the beats of Bhopal’s Akriti Mehra group and Police band. The Patel Park and the route of procession march was specially decorated. National Students Union of India (NSUI) activists were assigned the responsibility to mobilize the masses for the grand recitation of the national song.
Singing the national song at the secretariat on the first day of every month was a tradition started by the previous BJP regime under chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.Its discontinuation on 1 January had led to a war of words between the opposition BJP and the ruling Congress.
On Tuesday, Congress MLA Arif Masood at a programme in Sehore had refused to recite Vand Mataram citing that it violated the tenets of Islamic Sharia law.
