Vande Mataram Row: Refusing to sing national song matter of concern

Amid the ongoing row over the singing of ‘Vande Mataram’, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Saturday that opposition to sing the national song by some people is a “matter of grave concern”.

Yogi was speaking at the launch of a book – A Governor’s Guide: Role and Duties of the Governor under the Constitution of India – by UP Governor Ram Naik’s legal advisor SS Upadhyay at the Raj Bhawan here in the presence of Chief Justice of Allahabad high court Justice D B Bhosale and Speaker of the Assembly Hriday Narayan Dixit. The governor was also present.

Yogi’s comment comes after a controversy that sparked recently when a few corpora tors of Meerut Municipal Corporation protested against the singing of Vande Mataram at the corporation hall.

“I was attending a function recently in Allahabad on the completion of 150 years of the high court of Allahabad where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chief Jus tice of India Justice Khehar were present. The programme took off with the singing of Vande Mataram.But, unfortunately , singing of Vande Mataram is being opposed by some in the state.What concerns me is the unnecessary resistance to it,” he said.

The CM said UP was fortunate to have a learned and enlightened Governor in Ram Naik, who has the courage to set things right whenever governments in the past have attempted to function arbitrarily. He mentioned there was a time in the Raj Bhawan in Lucknow when the Governor acted unconstitutionally by destabilising and dislodging a democratically elected government. Naik said that he has, in a simple but determined way, always followed the letter and spirit of the Constitution.

He recalled two instances during his tenure – his refusal to give approval to the controversial names for the Legislative Council suggested by the Samajwadi party government and the suggestion for Lokayukta, saying both had violated the spirit of the Constitution.