Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday contended that people should not have any issues singing Vande Mataram.
Addressing a function organised by Vanavil Cultural Centre and the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan here to mark the 135th birth anniversary of Tamil poet Bharathiyar, Mr. Naidu said people should not feel shy about their culture, language and heritage. The Vice-President said he could not understand the problem in singing “Vande Mataram”, which meant “salutations to the mother”, a song that had inspired millions during the country’s freedom movement.
He recalled that Sister Nivedita, a disciple of Swami Vivekananda, had opened a girls’ school and tried to inculcate the nationalist spirit in the students by introducing “Vande Mataram” as a prayer song. “She had introduced Vande Mataram as a prayer song in the school. Now, some people have a problem with Vande Mataram also. What is Vande Mataram? Mata Vandanam, Amma Vanakkam — that is Vande Mataram. After so many years, now we are discussing (if) Vande Mataram is good or not, nationalism and patriotism are good or not. Also, we feel shy to talk about all this,” Naidu said.
No discrimination
There should not be any caste discrimination and people should be judged based on character, calibre, capacity and conduct, he said.
“I urge both the people to focus on 4 Cs (character, calibre, capacity and conduct). But unfortunately, politicians focus on caste, community and cash,” he said.
“Bharathiyar had a vision of freedom in its broadest sense. Not only did he join the freedom struggle and relentlessly fight against foreign rule, but he also wanted India to be free from hunger, gender discrimination, untouchability, unclean environment, narrow linguistic considerations and religious dogmatism. Making his dream come true would be the real tribute to him,” he said. He presented Bharati Award 2017 to former CBI official R. Kaarthikeyan who played a key role in the investigation of Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit said he has started learning to speak in Tamil. “When I heard so many people speak about the work of Bharathi today, my desire to learn Tamil doubled,” he added.
In his acceptance speech, Mr. Kaarthikeyan said he had tried to follow the teachings of Bharathi and had done his duty without any fear. Tamil Development Minister ‘Ma Foi’ K. Pandiarajan was also present at the event.
