For turning a familiar national song into a live debate over patriotism, protocol, law, federalism and secular identity, Vande Mataram has sparked a political row.
The government cares neither for the National Anthem nor the National Song. Rather, it seems interested only in finding a pretext to belittle the Congress and poor Nehru.
Parliament’s 1976 amendment named the Flag and Anthem in Article 51A but left Vande Mataram out. The new bill closes that gap by criminalising ‘disrespect'.
From coastal Andhra Pradesh to Jallianwala Bagh in Punjab, from bonfires in UP to midnight pledges in Chennai and Lahore, Vande Mataram was a war cry to galvanise people toward azaadi.
Idolatry is anti-science, was the private belief of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, who wrote the song whose idolatry became one of the most divisive issues during India’s national movement.
Muralidaran, 54, has also made news with his orders on NEET, cattle slaughter and farm loan waiver and beat the SC on the national song.
Apurva Vishwanath
BJP followers are dismissive of Rahul. For them, he’s an object of derision. But Modi has always held the opposite view. He sees Rahul, and the Gandhis, as the only potential threat.
It does look as if the Mosha duo has finally decided to abandon any traces of wisdom that Bose Nehru and Tagore had and write their own wisdom into the law. With their large backing in parliament this is possible and we can live with it. But given that we are not a homogenous nation like say Saudi Arabia we expect them to allow for atheists and non Hindus who may not want to sing the praises of goddess Durga etc. As democrats we expect them to amend the law to allow such persons to merely hum the tune while others sing it out.
Last time Ms. Stela Dey lambasted the West Bengal government for handing over the mid-day meal programme in government schools to ISKCON citing how the absence of eggs in the diet would severely impact the nutrient intake of students. She claimed that religious and ideological considerations were being given more importance than the stunting and physical/mental development of the children in question – essentially making the children a scapegoat in a politico-ideological ambitions of the Bengal BJP.
Now that ISKCON is serving delicious for to the little ones – ample Bengali channel news media coverage is there to verify and certify the same – she has gone silent on this issue.
In fact, the Bengal government has continued to provide boiled eggs to the children separately. So nutrition has not taken a backseat.
If anything at all, nutrition intake has increased manifold. And what is just as important – the quality of the food being served, the cleanliness and hygiene with which it is prepared has improved manifolds. Ample media coverage in Bengal highlights these aspects.
But it would be a grave mistake on our part to think that Ms. Stela Dey would acknowledge the progress being made on this count by the new BJP government in West Bengal. After all, her single point agenda is to paint the BJP/RSS/VHP in a poor light.
Ms. Stela Dey is the typical arts graduate student at say JNU or Jadavpur University or TISS. A charlatan with a know-it-all and understand-it-all attitude.
It does look as if the Mosha duo has finally decided to abandon any traces of wisdom that Bose Nehru and Tagore had and write their own wisdom into the law. With their large backing in parliament this is possible and we can live with it. But given that we are not a homogenous nation like say Saudi Arabia we expect them to allow for atheists and non Hindus who may not want to sing the praises of goddess Durga etc. As democrats we expect them to amend the law to allow such persons to merely hum the tune while others sing it out.
Last time Ms. Stela Dey lambasted the West Bengal government for handing over the mid-day meal programme in government schools to ISKCON citing how the absence of eggs in the diet would severely impact the nutrient intake of students. She claimed that religious and ideological considerations were being given more importance than the stunting and physical/mental development of the children in question – essentially making the children a scapegoat in a politico-ideological ambitions of the Bengal BJP.
Now that ISKCON is serving delicious for to the little ones – ample Bengali channel news media coverage is there to verify and certify the same – she has gone silent on this issue.
In fact, the Bengal government has continued to provide boiled eggs to the children separately. So nutrition has not taken a backseat.
If anything at all, nutrition intake has increased manifold. And what is just as important – the quality of the food being served, the cleanliness and hygiene with which it is prepared has improved manifolds. Ample media coverage in Bengal highlights these aspects.
But it would be a grave mistake on our part to think that Ms. Stela Dey would acknowledge the progress being made on this count by the new BJP government in West Bengal. After all, her single point agenda is to paint the BJP/RSS/VHP in a poor light.
Ms. Stela Dey is the typical arts graduate student at say JNU or Jadavpur University or TISS. A charlatan with a know-it-all and understand-it-all attitude.