Mumbai: Ripples of the Madras High Court order directing the Tamil Nadu government to make singing Vande Mataram mandatory in the state’s school has reached Maharashtra Assembly. On Thursday, BJP legislator Raj Purohit told the media within the premises of the House that he will ask Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to introduce the singing of the national song in Maharashtra schools.
Members from the minority community representing political parties immediately rose in opposition. They said neither their religion, nor the Constitution made this mandatory. Speaking of the Madras High Court directive, president of the Maharashtra wing of the Samajwadi Party Abu Asim Azmi said that this was another instance of the RSS imposing its views and thereby polarising society.
“I am a follower of Islam and singing Vande Mataram is against my religion. There is nothing in the Constitution that warrants this,” Azmi said, adding, “When the country was partitioned in 1947, it wasn’t said that Muslims who stayed back in India would have to sing such songs. He dared the government to arrest him for airing his views.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) legislator Waris Pathan, too, had similar views, opposing the directive of the Madras High Court. The Shiv Sena, an ally of the government in power, skirted the controversy. “This is a desh bhakti song, so where is the harm in singing it,” said Diwakar Raote, transport minister.
The Congress felt that the controversy was all about polarising the society.
