THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Wednesday said the UDF government was unaware that the swearing-in ceremony would feature the full rendition of Vande Mataram, clarifying that it was entirely a decision taken by Raj Bhavan (Lok Bhavan).
Responding to the controversy over the singing of the complete national song during the oath-taking ceremony, Satheesan noted that the incoming administration had not been informed in advance about this specific arrangement.
“We did not know that Vande Mataram would be rendered in full. The instructions came from Raj Bhavan. We realized it only when it began being sung in its entirety while we were standing there. It was not possible to interrupt it midway,” the CM told reporters here.
The issue has triggered sharp political reactions across the state, with the CPI(M) questioning the decision to sing the complete version of Vande Mataram during the swearing-in of the UDF Cabinet.
The Marxist party criticized the move on Tuesday, calling it an “incorrect step” and asserting that such a practice is “inappropriate in a pluralistic society.”
The BJP, however, hit out at the CPI(M), accusing the Communists of “insulting” the national song in a desperate bid to “appease radical vote-bank forces such as Jamaat-e-Islami and SDPI.”
Soon after Monday’s swearing-in ceremony, CPI(M) leader P A Mohamed Riyas had raised concerns over the full rendition of Vande Mataram, claiming that traditionally and officially only its first two stanzas are performed.
Riyas’s remarks drew a sharp response from BJP MLA V Muraleedharan, who openly questioned which specific parts of the national song had troubled the CPI(M) leader.
(With inputs from TNIE)
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