J-e-D issues fatwa against Vande Mataram

New Delhi

Islamic group Jamiat-e-Ulema has issued a fatwa against India’s national song Vande Mataram. The fatwa dissuades Muslims from singing the national song as some of the verses of the song, they allege, “are against the tenets of Islam.”

The fatwa was not in the written agenda of the Ulema convention. Media reports says that the Muslim Law Board justified this decision saying that the Muslims cannot worship anyone other than God.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram addressed the Muslim convention at Deoband on Tuesday, where he said that their invitation to him was a significant gesture for him. He added that he saw it as an oppurtunity to reach out to every section of the society.

BJP on Tuesday condemned the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind’s opposition to the recitation of Vande Mataram by Muslims and said the presence of Home Minister P Chidambaram in its general assembly legitimised the resolution adopted endorsing a previous edict against singing of the national song.

“We begin our programmes by singing Vande Mataram. But the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind function started with a protest against the national song,” BJP national vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters in New Delhi.

He demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should explain the compulsions behind the home minister to attend the programme after the resolution against singing of Vande Mataram was passed.

Naqvi said the presence of Chidambaram at the programme “gave legitimacy to the resolution…It is a matter of concern.”

He claimed that the presence of a member of the Union Cabinet proved that Congress and the UPA Government have a weak policy on terror and separatism.

Attacking the home minister, Naqvi said Chidambaram should have at least said something about the resolution in his speech. “I have a copy of his speech. He has mentioned about Babri mosque demolition and communal riots, but there is no mention of the resolution against Vande Mataram.”

Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said that the resolution against singing of Vande Mataram is not acceptable and it is against Constitutional provisions.

“During the freedom struggle, it was a motivational song. It should be sung by every patriot.”

The fatwa was issued by Jamait-e-Ulema Hind, Deoband through a resolution which states that Muslims should not sing Vande Mataram as its recitation is against Islam. It states that some of the verses of the national song are against the tenets of Islam.

In Lucknow, BJP state unit president Ramapati Ram Tripathi said the protest against Vande Mataram was “anti-national and the presence of the Union Home Minister was condemnable”.

He claimed that the participation of a Union Minister in the Deoband programme showed that the Centre was hand in glove with anti-Vande Mataram forces and Congress had understanding with “anti-national” elements.

“Not only Congress, SP and BSP should also clarify its stand on this issue as its very sensitive and related to the pride of the nation”, Tripathi said.

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