Place Nation and its Constitution above Religion – Subramanian Swamy

November 4, 2009.
Statement of Dr. Subramanian Swamy,
President of the Janata Party.

The Resolution passed yesterday at the Deoband seminary gathering directing Muslims in the nature of a fatwa, to reject Vande Mataram, is violative of the Constitution and hence actionable under the IPC.

On January 24, 2950, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, then presiding over the Constituent assembly had got passed by unanimous acclaim and applause with all members present including Muslim members, that Vande Mataram sung limited to first two stanzas “shall have equal status with it (singing Jana Gana Mana)”.  Hence Vande Mataram  be sung on all appropriate occasions by all citizens, without any exception. In 1983, in the Bijoy Emmanuel case, a Constitutional Bench upheld the dismissal of students from a school for refusing to sing the national anthem.

Hence refusal to honour the Vande Mataram as the national song, even as based on a faulty translation of the word “Vande”, the Deoband assembly has committed an act of treason, which is actionable.

I want the Muslim community leaders to denounce this fatwa, and place the nation and its Constitution above their religion.  Otherwise a clash of religions, sooner or later, in India will become inevitable which will be tragic for the nation.

By being silent on the occasion and being present on the dais of the Deoband Assembly, the Home Minister, Mr. P. Chidambaram (who is a Lok Sabha MP by fraud in the elections) has disgraced chair occupied by Sardar Patel and betrayed the freedom fighters who went to the gallows singing Vande Mataram.  I therefore demand his dismissal from the Cabinet since he has become a national shame.               

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