Karnataka - Gulbarga   

Vande Mataram rendered in many schools

Special Correspondent

PROTEST: Schoolchildren, under the leadership of the Vishwa Hindu Parishat, staging a demonstration in front of the Deputy Commissioner's office in Gulbarga city on Thursday.

GULBARGA: The patriotic song "Vande Mataram" was recited with national fervour in all schools and colleges to mark the centenary celebrations of the song penned by poet and freedom fighter Binkim Chandra. There were no reports of schoolchildren abstaining from schools to avoid singing the song, in the district.

According to reports, the song was sung at schools run by the Muslim institutions.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishat on Thursday organised a demonstration in front of the Deputy Commissioner's office with schoolchildren demanding that the Centre to make the singing of "Vande Mataram" compulsory in all the schools and colleges.

In a memorandum submitted to the Deputy Commissioner, the VHP said that the Union Government had buckled under the pressure of "pseudo-secularists" and Muslim fundamentalists and had not made singing of the song mandatory on the occasion of its centenary year.

The memorandum said opposition to the compulsory singing of the "Vande Mataram" by few organisations was an insult to all patriotic Indians and this would not be tolerated, the memorandum added.

In Bijapur, people celebrated the centenary of "Vande Maataram" song with respect and devotion in Bijapur and Bagalkot district.

As the government issued circular to the effect, most of the schools organised special prayer meetings to sing the song. However, though aided by the Government quite a few schools run by minority institutions chose not to ask students to sing the song.

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