New Delhi, May 21 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Praveen Khandelwal on Thursday hailed the decision of the West Bengal government to make singing of “Vande Mataram” mandatory in madrasas across the state. However, Islamic scholar Maulana Shahabuddin Razvi Barelvi opposed the move, saying no one can be pressurised to sing the national song.
West Bengal Directorate of Madrasah Education made “Vande Mataram” compulsory during Assembly prayers before classes in all government, aided and recognised madrasahs across the state with immediate effect, Khudiram Tudu, confirmed the Minister In-charge of Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education in the new state government led by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
The decision came just a week after the Bengal government made the recital of Vande Mataram mandatory in all the state-run schools.
Speaking to IANS, BJP MP Khandelwal said: “Vande Mataram is the pride and honour of India. The song is the lifeline of India and its soul. Therefore, it should be sung in every possible place, and there is no doubt about it.”
“I welcome the decision of the West Bengal government in this regard,” he added.
Khandelwal said that Vande Mataram is the song which is identified with India’s Independence.
“It is necessary that the national song is sung in every institution,” he asserted.
However, Maulana Shahabuddin Razvi Barelvi, National President of All India Muslim Jamaat, asserted that the debate surrounding the national song should be seen from a political perspective, not from a religious viewpoint.
“Since Suvendu Adhikari took charge as Chief Minister in Bengal, attempts have been made to create one controversy after another there. On the lines of Assam, madrasas in Bengal are also being targeted and Vande Mataram has been made mandatory,” he told IANS.
Moreover, Razvi Barelvi said: “I am not stopping anyone who wants to recite it, but those who do not want to recite it should not be pressured. It should be left to people’s conscience.”
Meanwhile, talking to IANS, Bengal Minister Khudiram Tudu said: “Like all other state-run schools in the state, singing ‘Vande Mataram’ will henceforth be mandatory in all recognised madrasahs as well. There are many state-run schools in West Bengal where the medium of instruction is the Santali language. If singing ‘Vande Mataram’ is compulsory in those schools, why should the same not be mandatory in recognised madrasahs?”
–IANS
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