By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net
Varanasi: The growing debate of nationalism and patriotism is seeing a number of steps being taken by district administrative personnel and authorities intended to boost the ‘patriotic feeling’ in civic bodies employees, and this is not going down well with the Muslims of the state.
Varanasi mayor Ramgopal Mohley has made national anthem and Vande Mataram, the national song, mandatory in all the meetings of Varanasi municipal corporation. This order has also been replicated by Gorakhpur municipal corporation. Earlier, the same kind of rule was imposed in civic bodies of Bareilly and Meerut.
The decision is being opposed by representatives from both Congress and SP. Congress state spokesperson Satish Rai said, “The decision comes from those who have never sung these songs in past. It is surprising.” Varanasi congress president Prajanath Sharma has said that a workshop over national anthem will be organised in city’s Maidagin chowk on April 6, where awareness will be spread about the national anthem. It’s history and development will be discussed.
The mayor Mohley said that action would be taken against SP and Congress members for insulting the national anthem and song and raising derogatory slogans.
Earlier in Meerut, Muslim corporators walked out after mayor Harikant Ahluwalia announced the same decision in the meeting. Reportedly, a resolution was passed in the house to cancel the membership of Muslim corporators who walked out. Earlier this week in Bareilly too, BJP corporators hailed the decision to sing the National anthem before every house meeting approved by the mayor approved.
When asked about the problems associated with the new rule, Muslim corporators said that they do not have the problem against national anthem, but singing Vande Mataram is against Sharia.
This is because while the first two (yet popularly known) verses of Vande Mataram are about the nation and are sung widely, in later verses Hindu goddesses Durga and Laxmi are worshiped. The English translation of the controversial portion of the song by Naresh Chandra Sengupta and Aurobindo Ghosh are –
Thou art Durga, Lady, and Queen,
With her hands that strike and her swords of sheen,
Thou art Lakshmi lotus-throned,
And the Muse a hundred-toned,
Pure and perfect without peer,
Mother lend thine ear,
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
Bright with thy orchard gleems,
Dark of hue O candid-fair
At the time of freedom movement the selection of song, which was chosen as the national anthem, was questioned by Muslim league and Muhammad Ali Jinnah due to the same reason. Back in 2006, Maulana Kalbe Sadiq of AIMPLB has already raised the question over the word ‘Vande’. He asked whether Vande means Salutation or Worship?
Shafiqurrahman Burq, the BSP leader now in AIMIM, walked out of the assembly in 2013 as the soon Vande Mataram was played.
When we asked Meerut mayor Harikant Ahluwalia about the dissent over such decision, he said, “I know few corpoators are not willing to sing the national song and we will not impose such on them. But at least they could still be in the meeting room while the song was being sung or played by other fellow corporators. But they chose to walk out.”
“Rest of the corporators are incensed after this behaviour of those Muslim corporators and they have asked for some strong action against them, I have ordered the action against them”, said Ahluwalia.
Coming over to the controversial verses of the national song, Ahluwalia said, “God is same everywhere. Can’t they be more open-hearted?”
But Varanasi mayor Ramgopal Mohley follows a dictator’s way in implementing the new rule. He said, “I have made the decision and this is final. And if someone has a problem with the national song, strong action will be taken against them.”
It seems that municipal corporations in various cities of Uttar Pradesh have started to lit the nationalism in their own terms, but the choice of religion and religious freedom is put on the stake.