ABVP demands PC’s apology on Vande Mataram row
Two Muslim groups decry Jamiat’s contention
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Thursday demanded an apology from Union Home Minister P Chidambaram for his silence on the Jamiat-Ulema-I-Hind (JUH) resolution declaring the recitation of Vande Mataram 'unIslamic.'
In a statement released here, it said it was “unbecoming of a union home minister to keep silence” while such a resolution was adopted in his presence, during the JUH convention in Meerut early this week.
The ABVP, which burnt an effigy of Chidambaram in protest, also said freedom fighters like Ashfaqullah sacrificed their lives inspired by Vande Mataram during the freedom movement.
Interestingly, close on the heels of the organisation’s demand, two prominent Muslim groups in Madhya Pradesh came out with another statement on Thursday that it is not un-Islamic to sing Vande mataram.
Claiming to have translated the song into Urdu, the All India Muslim Tehwar Committee (AIMTC) and the National Secularism Front of India (NSFI) observed that it is simply a prayer to keep the nation safe.
“It is not against Islam or un-Islamic. This is the reason why several Muslim freedom fighters chose to lay down their lives singing Vande Mataram,” claimed AIMTC chairman Osaf Shahmeeri Khurram.
According to Khurram, Vande Mataram is not a prayer to a mother goddess. “It is a prayer to the almighty to keep the nation safe and thus there should be no problem in singing or reciting it,” Khurram maintained.
“Had Vande Mataram been un-Islamic, then Maulana Hussain Ahmed Madani, Maulana Hasrat Mohani, Maulana Obeidullah Sindhi or martyr Ashfaqullah would not have laid down their lives singing Vande Mataram,” the statement added.
