Congress faces row over Vande Mataram at Independence Day event
The contempt and hatred Sonia Gandhi has for India came out in the open on Independence Day as she ordered the musicians singing Vande Mataram to stop the national song altogether. Sonia, who was visibly irritated over the rendering of the national song by the volunteers of Seva Dal (a frontal organization of the Congress Party owned by her) to stop singing. She was shown gesticulating at the Seva Dal leader, summoning him to where she was standing, and rebuking him for violating the party diktat not to render Vande Mataram. Even Mallikarjun Kharge, the Dalit president of the Congress Party, was seen following his Madam’s action. The Madam and the party president summoned the Seva Dal boss and shouted at him even as the musicians were singing Vande Mataram. This happened in front of the hundreds of Congress activists and chieftains during the flag hoisting function held at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi.
Jairam Ramesh, one of the court jesters of the Gandhi Parivar, told media persons that the national song was sung as per the law enacted by Parliament. “It was not because of any disrespect for Vande Mataram that Madam Gandhi asked them to stop the rendering. She was demanding a chair for Mallikarjun Kharge, who was feeling tired during the playing of the national song”, Ramesh told reporters. But TV images show the real happenings during the flag hoisting ceremony.
Rahul Gandhi, who was on the platform with other leaders, too was irritated by the singing of Vande Mataram, and he was looking towards Mama Gandhi helplessly.
Elsewhere in the country, barring Kerala, all states, including the ones ruled by the Congress (Karnataka, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh) and the union territory of Jammu & Kashmir, rendered Vande Mataram during the traditional tri-color hoisting ceremony. Though Kerala has a UDF ministry headed by the Congress, the state is under the spell of Muslim fundamentalists whose antipathy towards Vande Mataram is infamous. Governor Arlekar, who was told about Chief Minister V D Satheesan avoiding the song Vande Mataram, has reportedly expressed his annoyance over the incident. Sources close to the Governor told PGurus that Arlekar was not at all happy about the Kerala government’s action of not playing Vande Mataram as per the protocol.
PGurus had reported that the Independence Day parade in Kerala was likely to create a furor as the state government would not render Vande Mataram. Those who show disrespect to the national song are certain to be slapped with imprisonment of three years under the Prevention of Insults to National Honor (Amendment) Bill, and this will further complicate matters.
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