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India News Live, Digital Desk : A new controversy has arisen in the political circles regarding the decision to make full singing of the national song ‘Vande Mataram’ mandatory in government and public programs of the country. Now senior Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor has broken his silence on this sensitive issue. Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Shashi Tharoor termed the complete singing of all five verses of the national anthem at every small and big official event as a completely unnecessary, burdensome and unnecessarily imposed rule. He clearly said that expressing respect for the national anthem does not mean that people should be forced to sing it in full on every occasion. Tharoor’s comments come at a time when there is a debate over the necessity of singing the full version of the national anthem on official platforms.
Everyone respects the national anthem, but making it mandatory is not right.
While discussing with the journalists, Shashi Tharoor, famous for his outspoken statements, made it clear that every citizen of the country respects Vande Mataram wholeheartedly and no one should have any doubt about it. He said, “Vande Mataram is our glorious national song. Whenever this dignified song is sung, we all stand at our places in respect of it. Generally, the first stanza or the first few lines of this song are remembered by most of the people and this tradition has been going on for a long time.” Tharoor argued that respect should not be linked to any kind of forced compulsion, as this hurts the basic sentiment.
Complete verses in the beginning and all five verses in the end, Tharoor called it a ‘cumbersome rule’
Referring to the established traditions over the years, Shashi Tharoor said that usually ‘Vande Mataram’ is sung once at the beginning of any big program as a mark of respect, while the country’s national anthem (Jana Gana Mana) is played with dignity at the conclusion of the program. Questioning the current system, he said, “Now under the new guidelines, they want the entire song to be sung even at the beginning of every small program and then all five verses should be sung at the end of the program as well. I think this is a completely unnecessary and imposed rule, which has no practical basis.”
There is no such law of Parliament, differences between Kerala government and Governor exposed
Throwing light on the diplomatic aspects of this entire controversy, the Congress MP also mentioned the ongoing differences between the Kerala state government and the Raj Bhavan there. Tharoor said that on one hand, the Kerala government has a clear stand that singing the entire song in the program should be completely optional, while on the other hand, the opinion of Honorable Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar seems to be completely different from this. Referring to the country’s legal framework, Tharoor said, “Ultimately a clear and universally accepted decision has to be taken on this matter, because no written law passed by the Indian Parliament exists that makes it legally mandatory to sing the entire song on every occasion. This is not necessarily a matter of law, but of our traditions and convenience.”
Gave example of book release programme, said- standing twice is a problem for the audience
Shashi Tharoor also brought forward the example of a high-profile book launch event held recently in New Delhi, in which the country’s Vice President C.P. Radhakrishnan was also present. Tharoor said that the full version of the national anthem was played at both the beginning and end of the event. “It became a practical problem for the audience to have to stand twice in a row during a song with relatively long and less familiar verses,” he said. Describing this entire dispute as unfortunate, he expressed hope that its solution would be found by mutual consent. He concluded by saying that he was in favor of singing it in its entirety on major constitutional and ceremonial occasions involving the President, Vice President or Prime Minister, but saw no logic or efficiency in repeating the entire song twice at every small event.
