Congress veteran Kamal Nath who recently took Madhya Pradesh’s reigns in his hands and almost immediately created a huge political stir by proclaiming that a years-old tradition of reciting Vande Mataram at the state secretariat be abolished, has now, after facing strong protests by the BJP for the same, retracted the order.
The tradition of singing Vande Mataram was instituted by Shivraj Singh Chauhan’s government 13 years ago. Under this, all the employees of the state secretariat gathered together on the first day of the month and sung Vande Mataram along with the national anthem. The current move by Kamal Nath to abolish the rendition of Vande Mataram has created another political debate over Congress’ duplicity and appeasement politics.
His predecessor Shivraj Singh Chouhan, a three-term Chief Minister, expressed shock at the decision and had demanded that the practice is restored. He said that if the decision was not altered, he and all other BJP legislators would sing the national song at the Secretariat, and then take oath on January 7.
Soon after the political frenzy, following his controversial statement, gained momentum the Congress government promptly issued an order in this regard.
भोपाल में अब आकर्षक स्वरूप में पुलिस बैंड और आम लोगों की सहभागिता के साथ वंदे मातरम् का गायन होगा। हर महीने के प्रथम कार्यदिवस पर सुबह 10:45 बजे पुलिस बैंड राष्ट्र भावना जागृत करनेवाले धुन बजाते हुए शौर्य स्मारक से वल्लभ भवन तक मार्च करेंगे।@CMMadhyaPradesh #jansamparkMP pic.twitter.com/GKPC6YoKKw
— Jansampark MP (@JansamparkMP) January 3, 2019
Soon after the controversy gained storm, Kamal Nath had stated that patriotism cannot be defined by singing the national song only and he is trying to give it a new form. The Madhya Pradesh government has now decided that the National song would be sung on the first day of every month at 10.45 am with a police band marching from Shaurya Smarak to Vallabh Bhavan where the secretariat staff and general public too will join in.
Since the time Kamal Nath has taken charge of Madhya Pradesh, Congress’ real side is looming steadily. Almost immediately after this controversial decision the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh created another political debate by stopping pensions of prisoners detained during the emergency.
This move had also been severely criticised as it exhibited the insensitivity of the Congress party and its flippancy towards the decisions taken by former administrators.
