“We must first properly understand the wordings of the song (Vande Mataram) and then decide whether reciting it is un-islamic or not,” Shia cleric Maulana Hamidul Hasan said after meeting former RSS chief K P Sudarshan.
He said to recite the song for worshipping someone was wrong, but if it is sung in honour of the country then there was nothing wrong with it.
Sudarshan said the controversy over Vande Mataram was meaningless. He expressed serious concern over the violence in Pakistan and said the country (Pakistan) would break in the near future and merge with India.
The RSS leader said the Muslims were not a minority in the country and attributed the conflict between the two to the “communication gap”.
Similar sentiments
Meanwhile, another senior shia cleric Maulana Kalbe also echoed similar sentiments and called for a debate over the entire controversy to clear the air.
It should be clarified by language experts if the word “Vande” over which the entire controversy rests meant worship or just respect, the maulana said. “If it is worship, it could be objected, but in case of latter, there is no room for opposition,” he added.
Published 08 November 2009, 18:57 IST