E-Paper
Centre’s stand sought on national song status for Vande Mataram
The petitioner argued before the Delhi high court that in the absence of any guideline or regulations to honour Vande Mataram, the national song is being sung in an “uncivilised manner” and misused in films and parties.
The Delhi high court on Wednesday sought the Union government’s stand on a plea for formulating a policy to give similar respect and “equally propagate”to the national song , Vande Mataram at par with the national anthem “Jana Gana Mana”.
A bench of acting chief justice Vipin Sanghi and justice Sachin Datta issued notice on the petition by BJP leader and lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay to the Delhi government National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) on the petition which has sought to ensure that “Jana Gana Mana” and Vande Mataram are played and sung in all schools and educational institutions on every working day.
The petitioner argued before the court that in the absence of any guideline or regulations to honour Vande Mataram, the national song is being sung in an “uncivilised manner” and misused in films and parties.
Even though the court took exception to the petitioner publicising the matter in the press even before it came up for hearing, acting CJ Sanghi said that he will entertain the present PIL because the petitioner is a serious litigant.
“In order to keep the country united, it is the duty of the government to frame a national policy to promote-propagate “Jana Gana Mana” and “Vande Mataram”. There is no reason why it should evoke any other sentiment as the both are decided by Constitution makers,” the petition read.The matter would be heard on November 9.
