NEW DELHI: A political row erupted after only the opening portion of Vande Mataram was played before the Governor's policy address in the Kerala Assembly. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Saturday, called the incident "shameful" while the Opposition maintained that singing the full song cannot be enforced upon citizens.
Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar on Friday had publicly confirmed that Lok Bhavan had insisted on the full rendition of Vande Mataram during the opening session of the Assembly. However, the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left weighed in on the controversy by backing the existing convention of singing the truncated version.
Reacting on the same, BJP spokesperson Ajay Alok said: "It is shameful, absolutely shameful. This is an insult to the spirit of the nation, an insult to the national song, and an insult to our Constitution."
BJP spokesperson Pratul Shah Deo blamed the "appeasement politics" of the Kerala government for not playing the full national song.
Asserting that Vande Mataram reflects the country's national consciousness, he said: "If somebody does not play or sing the full national song, it will be an insult to the Centre's guidelines and people may also have to face punishment for this."
However, coming to the defence of the Kerala government, Congress spokesperson Rakesh Sinha asserted that patriotism runs through the blood of his party members. While maintaining that the full version of the national song should have been played, he said: "Creating a controversy over this and giving us lessons on patriotism regarding this, is not right."
Samajwadi Party spokesperson Ashutosh Verma said that nothing should be enforced on people. "The flexibility that our Constitution provides, makes it unique." (IANS)
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