Kerala BJP chief warns of legal, political consequences over Vande Mataram

Kerala BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar alleged the UDF government deliberately decided against singing Vande Mataram at Independence Day state functions. He accused the IUML and Jamaat-e-Islami of influencing the government and warned of possible political and legal consequences

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Sunday alleged that the UDF government had “deliberately” decided against singing the national song, Vande Mataram, at state functions on Independence Day and warned of “political and legal consequences”, saying, “we cannot let it go like that”.

Addressing a press conference here, Chandrasekhar said Vande Mataram was sung in Congress-ruled Karnataka and Telangana and in non-BJP-ruled Himachal Pradesh, but not in Kerala. He alleged that this was due to the “control” exercised by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Jamaat-e-Islami over the V D Satheesan government.

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He criticised Congress leader Sonia Gandhi for opposing the singing of the full version of Vande Mataram at the Independence Day celebration organised by the All India Congress Committee in New Delhi a day earlier.

The BJP MLA from Nemom said he did not have the words to describe what had happened there. “A woman who has been accepted by this country, when she tries to stop the singing of Vande Mataram, it shows what their politics, interests and aim are. We need to understand that. They will stoop to any level for political gain,” he alleged. On the decision not to sing Vande Mataram at the state government’s Independence Day celebrations, Chandrasekhar said Satheesan had taken an oath to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law.

“However, the state government has not done so. It violated the Constitution and the rule of law. It issued a circular not to sing the national song. There will be consequences for this deliberate violation by the government. It could be legal, political or both,” he said.

He alleged that the decision was the result of the IUML and Jamaat-e-Islami exercising control over the UDF government. Chandrasekhar claimed that the two Muslim organisations were attempting to introduce divisive politics in the state along the lines of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and said the BJP and its youth wing, Yuva Morcha, would strongly oppose it.