Bengaluru, Sep 23 (SocialNews.XYZ) Karnataka Congress President and MLC B.K. Hariprasad, on Wednesday, welcomed the Supreme Court's observation that a person cannot be criminally prosecuted merely for refusing to sing ‘Vande Mataram’ on grounds of religious belief or conscience.
Hariprasad said the Supreme Court had once again clarified the constitutional position that an individual could not be made a criminal for not singing ‘Vande Mataram’. He said the court's view was another example of the strength of democratic and constitutional principles and welcomed the observation.
He said Congress had already taken a decision at the AICC Working Committee level and in Karnataka to have only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram sung at government programmes. “The party's position on this issue is clear,” he said.
According to Hariprasad, patriotism did not mean forcing someone to sing a particular song. Rather, it meant respecting the Constitution, the country's diversity and every citizen's freedom of conscience.
He recalled that national leaders had held serious discussions on Vande Mataram during the freedom struggle and had evolved an approach that respected India's pluralism.
“By setting aside that historic consensus, the Union government has imposed a new system of officially singing all six stanzas on the people,” Hariprasad said.
He maintained that nobody was opposing the singing of Vande Mataram, but argued that the Constitution could not be set aside in the name of respecting the song.
“There is no situation in this country where people have to obtain a certificate of patriotism from the BJP. Just as every citizen has the right to love the country, every citizen also has the right to act according to their conscience,” he said.
Hariprasad also criticised the BJP over the controversy that erupted during the Karnataka Legislative Assembly session. He said the incident had exposed what he described as the BJP's political inconsistency on the issue.
He said BJP members had insisted on singing the full version of Vande Mataram in the Assembly in opposition to the government's decision to sing only the first two stanzas at official programmes.
“When ruling party members stopped after the first two stanzas and read the Preamble to the Constitution, opposition members continued singing the full song,” he said.
Hariprasad further mocked BJP members for using printed copies while singing the full version, questioning their familiarity with the complete lyrics.
“It is ironic that the BJP, which created such a major political issue in the Assembly insisting that the full ‘Vande Mataram’ must be sung, did not even have the complete lyrics memorised,” he said.
He added that even if the lyrics were not memorised, the inability to read and sing them properly was an even greater irony.
“Turning a song into a political weapon while being unable to sing the same song properly is perhaps the biggest political contradiction,” Hariprasad said.
Referring to the Supreme Court's observation, he concluded that BJP members who were unable to sing Vande Mataram properly could at least heave a sigh of relief, saying the development had brought him some satisfaction.
Source: IANS
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