Keralam Chief Minister V.D. Satheeshan hoisted the national flag at the Independence Day celebrations in the capital city of Tiruvananthapuram without the rendition of Vande Mataram, despite the Chief Secretary of the state having issued instructions to render Vande Mataram in Independence Day celebrations in government programmes. The Congress leader, who heads the UDF government, had the other day declared that his government had a different attitude towards Vande Mataram and had said that it was better to wait until August 15 to see if the full version of Vande Mataram would be sung.
The Keralam State government omitted Vande Mataram from the Independence Day Celebrations at government offices in the capital and fourteen districts, with the decision becoming evident during the official programmes across the State.
After the flag hoisting, the National Anthem was rendered. This is despite the law enacted by the Union Government to render the full version of Vande Mataram in official programmes. It takes three minutes and 10 seconds.
The guidelines asked for the rendition of Vande Mataram in official programmes, civil programmes, and at the beginning of the working days in the schools. But they all are violated.
The omission from the government programmes stood in contrast to the Independence Day celebrations of the BJP-ruled Tiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation, where the full version of Vande Mataram was rendered. Mayor V.V. Rajesh led the programme.
A similar controversy was witnessed in CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF)-ruled Kozhikode Corporation, where the INDI Alliance dishonoured the national song.
While BJP councillors started to sing Vande Mataram, the councillors belonging to the INDI Alliance started to sing the national anthem at the same time. They did not even bother to stand at attention while singing the national anthem. After completing the national anthem, they turned back and returned to the office without giving any care to the national song.
Following the incident, BJP councillors told the media that they had informed, well in advance, the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor that they (BJP councillors) would sing the full version of Vande Mataram.
Now, BJP has complained to the City Police Commissioner that the councillors belonging to LDF as well as the Congress-United Democratic Front (UDF) dishonoured the national song.
The controversy also extended to schools, as even though the school students had completed the rehearsals for the full version, the final instruction received from the government did not contain Vande Mataram. Therefore, the students of the government-controlled schools could not render Vande Mataram.
However, schools managed by Vidya Bharati, schools managed by Chinmaya Mission and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan had facilitated the rendition of Vande Mataram by the students.
Similarly, celebrations organised by several Residence Associations included the rendition of the full version of Vande Mataram.
Against this backdrop, it is a well-known fact that the V.D. Satheeshan government functions according to the diktats of the Muslim organisations, like Indian Union Muslim League, the second largest UDF constituent.
CM V.D. Satheeshan is grateful to them, because, but for their support, he would not have got the hot seat despite strong competition from AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal and the present home minister Ramesh Chennithala.
Reportedly, BJP organised about 15,000 Independence Day celebrations across the State, where the full version of Vande Mataram was sung.
