New Delhi, August 28
In an apparent attempt to capitalise on the recent political controversy over the compulsory singing of Vande Mataram, the BJP today asked its party units across the country to recite the National Song at state and district headquarters on September 7.
In a statement here, BJP president Rajnath Singh condemned the Congress-led UPA Government’s decision to make the recitation of the National Song as “optional” in all educational institutions as yet another appeasement policy.
“The country feels betrayed by the Congress government’s yet another appeasement policy by rescinding its earlier decision of compulsory recitation of Vande Mataram in all education institutions,” he said.
This decision has been taken by the UPA government in the wake of statements issued by two Hyderabadi Ulemas and Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Abdullah Bukhari in Delhi even as 90 per cent of Muslims were ready to sing the song along with other compatriots, the BJP chief claimed.
BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said the BJP Minority Morcha had sought permission from the Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee for 200 Muslim party workers to sing Vande Mataram standing next to Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in Parliament House on September 7.
The BJP president has already asked chief ministers of BJP-ruled states to direct educational institutions in their states to recite the National Song making a true finale to the Vande Mataram’s commemoration year.
