Sisodia criticises UP govt’s Vande Matram recital circular

Ananya Panda

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 13

Deputy Chief Minister and Culture Minister Manish Sisodia was critical of the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government’s recent circular over compulsory singing of Vande Matram during I-Day celebrations in madrassas when he said Vande Matram recital is considered to be a proof of “so-called nationalism”.

Sisodia said nowadays the definition of nationalism is undergoing a change and “forced singing” of Vande Matram in madrassas (Islamic schools) is considered to be a proof of so-called nationalism.

He said this while addressing a gathering of poets and literary luminaries during Punjabi Kavi Darbar, organised by Delhi Punjabi Academy at Shri Ram Centre of Art and Culture yesterday evening.

Sisodia also took a swipe at the Yogi Adityanath-led UP government saying on the one hand the singing Vande Matram is linked with national pride while on the other infants are dying in (government-run) hospital in Gorakhpur.

Further, the Aam Aadmi Party minister exhorted the literary fraternity to work towards promoting literature and in the process root out “so-called nationalism and such social evils”.

“In such situation it is you (poets) who can help remove such social evils and to whom people will listen instead of people like us,” the minister said.

The statements assume significance in the backdrop of the UP government’s direction to all madrassas to videograph the celebrations on Independence Day to monitor the compliance with the order on singing of Vande Matram. 

The issue which threatens to take communal shape has sparked yet another tussle between the clerics and the government.

In the past, Sisodia had lauded the Adityanath government for cancelling 15 public holidays on birth or death anniversary of eminent personalities and gone ahead to declare that the Delhi Government would follow the practice.