Muslim councillors skip Vande Mataram
Three Muslim councillors deliberately skipped the singing of the national song during the executive committee meeting of the municipal corporation on Monday.
Mayor Harikant Ahluwalia convened the meeting for approval of the budget.
The committee consists of 12 members, including three Muslim councillors of the Samajwadi Party.
The meeting was scheduled to begin at 11 AM but was delayed by two hours. All three Muslim councillors entered the house only after the singing of Vande Mataram was over.
“We did this to avoid the prevailing controversy over singing of Vande Mataram which BJP’s mayor and councillors were deliberately raising to polarise voters in the name of religion in view of the forthcoming civic elections,” said Shahid Abbasi , SP councillor and leader of opposition in the house.
He questioned, “Why was the BJP silent on the issue in the past four and a half year and is now raising it when election for a new house is due in a few months?”
He said, “It is their calculated move to polarise voters because they don’t have potential issues to win the forthcoming election.”
Speaking to HT Mayor Ahluwalia said, “We can`t tolerate disrespect of the National Song.” He admitted that three Muslim councilors attended the house only after Vande Mataram was over. The mayor clarified, “We don’t want to impose anything on anyone but they should not show disrespect to the National Song by their acts.”
He said he had decided to initiate action against the councillors if they insulted the National Song during the meeting but they skipped the meeting and entered only after it was over.
However, Shahid Abbassi explained that the Muslim councillors had no intention to disrespect Vande Mataram and they reached house late because they wanted to avoid any controversy. He said, “Singing of Vande Mataram is against our religious ethics and they (Bharatiya Janata Party) should also respect our feelings.”
The controversy over Vande Mataram has prevailed in the municipal corporation for years as the majority of Muslims councillors either walks out during singing of the National Song or avoid singing it with others.