MP: Congress govt to sing Vande Mataram, but with a difference

Adhering to his words, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath on Thursday went a step further and declared that his government employees will sing Vande Mataram in more fashionable and patriotic manner compared to what previous BJP government did. 

On the first working day of next month, the entire state cabinet and Congress leaders will take out a march-past following which the police band would sing Vande Mataram. The march-past, from the War Memorial to the state secretariat building located on the Arera Hills of central Bhopal, will be accompanied by singing of the national song every month.

The decision comes soon after a controversy erupted after the newly-inducted Congress government decided to discontinue singing of Vande Mataram on the first working day of every month in front of state Secretariat Vallabh Bhawan. The BJP leadership had then criticised the Congress for shying away from singing Vande Mataram. However, the latest decision by the Congress has put the BJP on the backfoot.

"The BJP had gone overboard in criticising the Congress or being anti-patriotic by discontinuing the national song, often opposed by the minority community," said blogger Manoj Sharma. CM Kamal Nath had said the singing was discontinued because there was a lack of participation by employees, adding he wanted to relaunch the event in a different manner. However, that was not enough as the BJP made it a nation-wide political issue with former chief minister and BJP leader Shivraj Singh stating that all his 109 MLAs would sing the song, written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, on the first day of the assembly session on January 7. The local BJP even staged a protest in front of the state secretariat and sang the song.

At the same, the latest decision to revive the song has also been termed as a u-turn by the Congress following criticism from the BJP.