Vande Mataram is a must in schools, offices: Madras HC

COURT GAVE THE DIRECTIVE “TO INSTIL A SENSE OF PATRIOTISM IN EACH AND EVERY CITIZEN OF THE STATE”

The Madras high court on Tuesday made singing Vande Mataram compulsory in all government schools, colleges and universities in Tamil Nadu at least once a week “preferably on Monday or Friday” in the “larger public interest and to instil a sense of patriotism in each and every citizen of the state”.

It also directed that Vande Mataram should be played and sung in all government offices and institutions as well as private companies, factories and industries at least once a month.

Justice MV Muralidharan gave the ruling while hearing a petition by K Veeramani who approached the court to know whether Vande Mataram was a Bengali song and if he had given the correct answer in a competitive examination for the recruitment of BT assistants in government schools.

Veeramani was asked about the language Vande Mataram was first written in the test, which was conducted by the Teachers Recruitment Board. He said he replied it was “Bengali” and his answer was struck off as wrong. He said he lost out on one mark and could not qualify for the post.

Vande Mataram, composed by pre-Independence Bengali poet and author Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in the 1870s, is written in Sanskritised Bengali. In 1947, India adopted the first two verses as the national song.

“The youth of this country are the future of tomorrow. This court hopes and trusts that this order shall be taken in the right spirit and also implemented in letter and spirit by the citizenry of

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