Bring law to make singing ‘Vande Mataram’ mandatory: Uddhav Thackeray

In an apparent dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday asked the party to enact a law to make singing ‘Vande Mataram’ mandatory instead of making statements. “What is wrong in singing ‘Vande Mataram’ and why should it be only on select days? It should be sung every day. The BJP MLAs who warn others over ‘Vande Mataram’ can’t sing even four lines. Can you do anything at all? At least bring in a law for the same,” Mr. Thackeray said, addressing a gathering on the occasion of Marmik magazine’s anniversary. Mr. Thackeray questioned the BJP’s commitment on the issue. “Before coming to power, you [BJP] had said that everyone must sing ‘Vande Mataram’ if they want to live in the country. What happened now? How can you say an individual will decide whether to sing or not?” In the recently concluded monsoon session of the Legislative Assembly, MLAs of BJP, Samajwadi Party and AIMIM were at loggerheads, after SP MLA Abu Azmi said that he will not sing the national song. Slamming both aggressively BJP MLA Raj Purohit had said that every Indian must sing Vande Mataram. Mr Purohit however goofed up after he was asked to sing the song and he could not even sing first two lines.