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Friday, Sep 08, 2006

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National legacy: Arjun Singh

Staff Reporter

Whether one wants to sing it or not is one's prerogative: Aiyar

PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERM

Union Minister for Human Resource Development Arjun Singh (second from right), the former Prime Minister, I.K. Gujral (right), Shashi Bhushan (second from left) and Arif Mohammad Khan at the Red Fort on Thursday.

NEW DELHI : Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh on Thursday said `Vande Mataram' was a national legacy and a country that forgot its heritage could not remain independent for long.

Speaking at a public meeting on `Vande Mataram' at Red Fort , Mr. Singh said the song was a war cry during the freedom struggle and was sung by people from every religion, caste and creed without discrimination. The country's unity would come under threat if people did not think and feel as one nation.

Open to analysis

Union Minister for Panchayati Raj and Youth Affairs Mani Shankar Aiyar said the song might be open to analysis but there could be no doubt that it inspired the Indians to fight the British. Whether one wanted to sing the song or not was the prerogative of that person, he said, adding that people's patriotism could not be tested on the basis of whether they wanted to sing the song or not.

Criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party for raising a controversy over singing of the song, Mr. Aiyar said there have been occasions when members of the party had not been present during the singing of the `Vande Mataram' in Parliament. "Do we then say that they are less patriots?" he asked.

Former Union Minister Mohsina Kidwai said those creating the controversy did not have any presence in the freedom struggle.

Union Minister for Culture and Tourism Ambika Soni too came down heavily on the main Opposition party. "Their leaders were helping the British and asking forgiveness during the Quit India Movement. Will they teach us the lessons of patriotism?" she asked.

Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh, Raashid Alvi, criticising the BJP said "when they created a ruckus in Parliament on the issue, I asked them if they could recite the song. Not one of them could do it. All they want to do is to take political mileage," he alleged.

"No one can be forced to sing the song. Even Gandhiji, Pandit Nehru and Subhash Bose held the same view," he said.

Informing the gathering that `Vande Mataram' was sung in all the 2.5 lakhs centres of the Nehru Yuva Kendra, the Director-General of Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, Shakeel Ahmed Khan, said people should come together and fight the elements that create divisions in society.

Among others who spoke were the former Prime Minister, I.K.Gujral, Digvijay Singh, former Union Minister Arif Mohammad Khan and Minister for State for Planning M.V. Rajasekharan.

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