Vande Mataram

Recently there have been many articles which debate the "order" by HRD Minister Mr. Arjun Singh, to make the Vande Mataram compulsory in Government Schools. This order, was challenged by the Imam of Jama Masjid, in Delhi, sparking off a furore between political parties. Arjun Singh was then "forced" to say that singing Vande Mataram was not compulsory. The BJP didn't like it, and the case went from pathetic, to a bloody farce (as Amit reports here).

At first, I was also siding with the BJP. Vande Mataram is the National Song of India. If you don't wanna sing it, get the hell out of the country. Well atleast that is what I thought, before sense dawned upon me. Let us analyse this. AFAIK, India is a "free" country. The constitution, guarantees freedom of thought and expression to one and all, regardless of their religion, race, creed etc. My interpretation is based on Article 19 of the Constitution of India (see here). Now, in that case, each citizen is fully within their rights to sing or not to sing a song. Indeed it is anti-national on the part of the BJP to force Vande Mataram to be sung. If someone wishes to sing it, it should come straight from the heart, not from a piece of paper giving a fatwa or a GO.

Although I do not agree that the terms "soceity" and "nation" are meaningless as Amit implies, he does raise a valid, and winning arguement when he says that these two terms are used to justify the worst assaults on personal freedom.