Dehradun, Aug 20 (PTI) Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Thursday said the Congress’ decision to sing only two stanzas of Vande Mataram at party events was “anti-national”, saying the party has always resorted to such actions for its “appeasement” politics.
Speaking to reporters here, the chief minister said, “The decision taken by the Congress Working Committee to sing Vande Mataram only partially is anti-national and deals a blow to the dreams of the martyrs who smilingly embraced the gallows for the sake of the country.” He added, “Congress has always done this. In the past, too, they divided Vande Mataram for appeasement, and now they feel once again that if Vande Mataram is sung in its entirety, it would invoke and praise Bharat’s gods and goddesses.” The CM also slammed the Congress’s state leaders, saying they should ask their leadership that if gods and goddesses should not be prayed to in Uttarakhand, a land revered as ‘Devbhoomi’.
“There are numerous sacred sites here, including those dedicated to Maa Nanda-Sunanda, Maa Durga, Maa Purnagiri, Maa Dhari Devi, and Maa Jwalpa Devi. They ought to ask whether securing votes is the ultimate priority,” Dhami said.
Disregarding a law enacted by the country’s Parliament reflects an anti-national sentiment and millions of citizens should question the stand of the Congress, he said.
“The Congress policy of opposing Vande Mataram is anti-national and unconstitutional,” said Mahendra Bhatt, the BJP’s state unit president.
Terming it an insult to the national song and ‘Bharat Mata’, the Rajya Sabha MP described it as the “height of the policy of appeasement”.
Bhatt alleged that while the Congress had previously attributed the incident involving the disrespect of Vande Mataram to the mere act of fetching a chair for party president Mallikarjun Kharge, it has now adopted this stance as official party policy through a resolution passed by its working committee.
He added that people are noting the actions of the Congress, which claims credit for securing Independence of the country. PTI DPT SKY SKY
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