Vande Mataram will be discussed in next session of Maharashtra legislature: CM Fadnavis

Nagpur, Dec 8 (PTI) National song Vande Mataram will be discussed in the next session of the Maharashtra legislature, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Monday.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a programme here, the CM asserted it is necessary that Vande Mataram is being discussed in Parliament.

"Vande Mataram is not just a song but it is a mantra of Indian freedom struggle and 'rashtravaad' (nationalism). It is that 'mahamantra' which connected the common man of this country with the freedom struggle. It is necessary to have a discussion on it in Parliament as the national song is completing 150 years. I am very happy that this debate is going on in Parliament," he said.

"Today, we too sang Vande Mataram in the Vidhan Sabha and paid homage. Our speaker has said that a discussion on Vande Mataram will be held in the House in the next session," Fadnavis added.

The Winter session of the Maharashtra legislature began here on Monday.

Responding to a query on Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray's comments about the BJP "imposing a ban" on the national song, Fadnavis said it was the Congress that had curtailed it by mandating that only a couple of stanzas will be sung.

"It is Aaditya Thackeray who roams with the Congress every day. He should be questioning the Congress rather than the BJP (on the issue). Vande Mataram has got only respect during BJP rule and there were no restrictions," the CM asserted.

Speaking about the debate on 'Vande Mataram' in Parliament, Thackeray had told reporters here that the BJP misuses the national song and slogans like 'Jai Hind' as well as Hindutva for poll purposes and then later restricts their use.

"If you see the Rajya Sabha handbook this year, they have imposed restriction on saying 'Jai Hind' and 'Vande Mataram' in the House," the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said.

Initiating a debate on the ‘150th anniversary of national song Vande Mataram’ in Parliament on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said first PM Jawaharlal Nehru betrayed Vande Mataram by echoing Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s communal concerns and fragmenting the national song that put India on the path of politics of appeasement, leading to its Partition.

"Unfortunately, on October 26, 1937, Congress compromised on Vande Mataram, fragmenting it in their decision. This decision was cloaked under the guise of social harmony, but history bears witness that INC bowed before the Muslim League and acted under its pressure, adopting a politics of appeasement," the PM said in a scathing attack in Parliament. PTI CLS BNM