Kerala governor Rajendra Arlekar on Friday expressed displeasure at the police band not performing the full version of Vande Mataram at the opening session of the Assembly where he was present for the UDF government’s policy address.
Arlekar did not raise the issue in the Assembly but later told the media at Lok Bhavan that protocol should be followed when the governor attends such events.
“Yesterday (Thursday), we had insisted that whenever the governor is present, as per protocol, Vande Mataram has to be sung fully. It was not sung, but only played by the band. Yet they could have played it in full. I have spoken to the Assembly Speaker. Let us see how things go,” he told reporters.
The governor has shot off a letter to the Speaker, urging him to ensure that the protocol is not flouted in future.
The Union home ministry has made the full six-stanza rendition of Vande Mataram mandatory to mark the 150th anniversary of the national song.
Kerala chief minister V.D. Satheesan on Friday said that rendering the national song in full was not mandatory as Parliament had enacted no law in that regard. Satheesan was responding to reporters’ queries on Arlekar’s concern.
Opposition leader Pinarayi Vijayan appreciated the UDF government’s stand on Vande Mataram. However, the BJP slammed the Congress-led government for allegedly insulting Vande Mataram and the governor.
“During the governor’s address in the Kerala Assembly, the full version of Vande Mataram was not sung. The official protocol is that the original version should be sung in full and not shortened to two stanzas. But the Congress government violated this protocol,” BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said in a video message posted on X.
Poonawalla alleged that it was done under pressure from the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a UDF ally.