Now Reading: Kerala refuses to sing full Vande Mataram despite Centre order
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Kerala refuses to sing full Vande Mataram despite Centre order
Kerala Health Minister K Muraleedharan and Congress MP Rajmohan Unnithan said on Sunday that the state will not sing the full six-stanza version of Vande Mataram, sticking to only the first two…
The Story in Brief
Kerala Health Minister K Muraleedharan and Congress MP Rajmohan Unnithan said on Sunday that the state will not sing the full six-stanza version of Vande Mataram, sticking to only the first two couplets. This follows an August 6 letter from Chief Secretary Bishwanath Sinha, who directed that the Union government's instructions for full rendition be followed during the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign from August 9 to 17. The controversy is over the last four stanzas, which have been described as communally charged. Opposition CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan accused the state government of surrendering to the RSS agenda, while the Governor's office denied issuing any such instruction.
The Indian Opinion
The Vande Mataram row is being framed as a loyalty test, either you sing the full song or you are anti-national. But the real issue is the content of the last four stanzas, which many in Kerala find objectionable on grounds of secularism. The state's practice of singing only the first two couplets has been consistent for decades. Pushing the full version now looks less like patriotism and more like a political squeeze. The question is not who sings more, but whether the Centre will accept a state's longstanding protocol without branding it defiance.
Sources (2): thefederal.com, thenewsminute.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
