New Delhi, Sep 16 (IANS) As the Karnataka government, through an official order, restricted the singing of ‘Vande Mataram’ to its first two stanzas at official programmes, the BJP on Wednesday demanded that the entire song should be sung at all public events.
Speaking to IANS, BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy said, “The entire song ‘Vande Mataram’ should be sung. It is a patriotic song. Karnataka government has also made a law regarding this. There is one law in the country. There cannot be one law for the state and another law for the country. The same law should have been followed. What have they done? They say we will sing four lines and not sing the remaining part. We do not like this. The entire song should be sung because it is a patriotic song.”
BJP National Spokesperson Guru Prakash said the Karnataka government and the Congress party had become “experts in appeasement politics”.
“The Karnataka government and the Congress party have become experts in appeasement politics as of today. Wherever they feel that they can get votes through appeasement, they do so. What is the problem when it has been accepted across the country? Congress should look at its own history; this used to happen at conventions even before Independence. But politicising this issue, I believe, requires the Congress party to engage in deep introspection,” he said.
Meanwhile, an advocate moved the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday challenging the Congress government’s decision to sing only the first two stanzas of ‘Vande Mataram’ at its programmes, except those attended by the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister or Governor.
In his public interest litigation (PIL), advocate Girish Bharadwaj argued that the September 8 government order was an exercise of executive power in a field where the state had no legislative power.
Karnataka Home Minister and Congress leader Priyank Kharge has defended the state government’s decision to limit ‘Vande Mataram’ to two stanzas at official events, escalating the row over the BJP’s demand that all stanzas of the national song be sung.
–IANS
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