The confusion was evident as Kasaragod MP Rajmohan Unnithan, MLA Kallatra Mahin and district collector Sreedhanya Suresh also returned to their seats before the rendition was over. On the other hand, Congress MLA from the district, K Neelakandan, and Congress district committee president P K Faizal stood on the dais till the rendition was over.
On Tuesday, the BJP came out against the conduct of the minister, the MP and the district collector. BJP district president M L Ashwini said their actions conveyed a wrong message to society. “This is a serious violation of the protocol. They have insulted the national song. We will protest against the minister and initiate legal action against officials who insulted the national song,” she said.
Muraleedharan told the media in Kasaragod that the state government cannot allow the Centre’s protocol in functions it conducts. “Don’t teach me patriotism. Vande Mataram was not on the function’s agenda, but two panchayat members sang the song in its entirety. We will not allow the BJP agenda to be implemented in state-run functions,” he said.
The Vande Mataram controversy has continued to simmer in Keralam ever since the Congress-led UDF government came to power in May this year. The controversy began with the full rendition of the national song at the Cabinet swearing-in ceremony on May 18, which Chief Minister V D Satheesan defended by saying that the event had been organised by Lok Bhavan.
However, during the first Assembly session, the government allowed only two stanzas to be played, prompting Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar to flag a breach of protocol. Meanwhile, the CPI(M) has said the Congress is succumbing to the BJP agenda by compromising its ideological fight against the Sangh Parivar.
The issue resurfaced in August when the Chief Secretary forwarded the Centre’s directive to sing all six stanzas during Independence Day celebrations. While the BJP accused the government of yielding to pressure from its ally, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the CPI(M) alleged that the UDF was implementing the Sangh Parivar agenda. The government eventually skipped the song at the official state-level celebrations, despite Congress-ruled Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh complying with the directive.
