New Delhi: To sing or not to sing?
India’s National Song is mired in a strange controversy just ahead of its 100th anniversary.
Everyone from political parties to religious groups to school principals seem to have an opinion on whether Vande Mataram should be sung compulsorily or be banned in schools and states.
While Muslim groups have raised a unanimous voice against the song, saying it has words/phrases that go against the tenets of Islam, the BJP on Monday added yet another twist to the tale when it made the singing of the song compulsory in all the states ruled by it.
BJP’s affinity for the song can be understood. With an eye on the UP Assembly polls, the BJP contends that Vande Mataram has always been Hindutva's theme song.
So much so that on September 7 - when the centenary celebration of the song begins - all 'saffron' vocal chords will sing for their voters.
The country’s main Opposition party seems to believe that if Muslims and the UPA Government can object to Danish cartoons and Iraq minorities, they too have a right to woo voters.
The controversy started when Union Human Resource Minister Arjun Singh said that singing Vande Mataram would be made compulsory in all schools. However, he retracted later and made it 'optional'.
Muslim groups categorically objected to the suggestion.
Therefore, after asking tennis pinup Sania Mirza to get rid of her signature T-shirts and short skirts, Muslim clerics in Hyderabad issued fatwa against the National Song.
The echoes of the row also resounded in Parliament where the ruling coalition and Opposition members slugged it out after Arjun Singh’s announcement and the House went into an adjournment spree.
Are they making too much song and dance about it?
No, feel the political parties.
While Maharashtra’s Shiv Sena will organise a mass recitation all over Maharashtra on September 7, the Jamaiti-Islami-Hind - a Muslim body in Rajasthan - will be opposing the singing of the patriotic song in its madrasas.
Officials in Rajasthan, however, said that the order is not compulsory, although the state government will see to it that it is followed by all educational institutions.
Though the BJP-ruled Gujarat has also issued specific instructions the education department, asking them to ensure that the song is sung in all educational institutions on September 7, Chief Minister Narendra Modi is conspicuous by his silence.
In Haryana, the ruling Congress and the main Opposition party - Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) - have been unanimous in their decision to sing the song on September 7 and are of the belief that the song's association with the freedom struggle overrides any criticism.
So, as Vande Mataram completes a century of being written with pride and sung with gusto, the question is whether it will face the music for being the national song and will it be reduced to a crass cacophony of political one-upmanship.
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