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Maharashtra BJP leader says "Sing Vande Mataram if you want to live in India"

  • Maharashtra Public Works Minister and BJP leader Chandrakant Patil has said that one must say `Vande Mataram' and `Bharat Maata Ki Jai' if they want to live in India
  • BJP MLA Raj Purohit demanded the implementation of compulsory singing on the National Song in Maharashtra
  • Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has said singing 'Vande Mataram' was a matter of choice and those refusing to sing it could not be dubbed as anti- nationals
Maharashtra BJP leader says Sing Vande Mataram if you want to live in India

After the Madras High Court made it compulsory to sing India’s National Song Vande Mataram at least once a week, in all schools, colleges, universities and educational institutions in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra Public Works Minister and BJP leader Chandrakant Patil has gone a step further saying that one must say `Vande Mataram' and `Bharat Maata Ki Jai' if they want to live in India.

Patil, who was visiting the famous Saibaba temple in Shirdi, said, “Vande Mataram means saluting the soil of this country. I don't know what problem they have saying Vande Mataram."

"If you want to live in this country, you must say Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata Ki Jai," he said.

BJP MLA Raj Purohit demanded the implementation of the Tamil Nadu High Court Order in Maharashtra.

"Everybody living in this country has the right to worship as per his religion. But one must be loyal to the country and its soil too. Vande Mataram doesn't mean hailing (particular) god. Just as one also reveres one's parents besides Allah, one can also revere the motherland," Patil said.

On the other hand, Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has said singing 'Vande Mataram' was a "matter of choice" and those refusing to sing it could not be dubbed as anti- nationals.

"Singing Vande Mataram is absolutely an individual's choice. Those who want to sing can sing it, those who don't, may not. Not singing it does not make one anti-national," said the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Parliamentary Affairs and Minority Affairs.

He added that however, if someone deliberately opposed the singing of the national song then it was ‘in bad taste’ and ‘not in the interest of the country’.
 

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