No penalty prescribed if anyone refuses to sing : BJP

New Delhi, Aug 31 (UNI) After having directed its party units in the country to organise singing of National Song Vande Mataram on September seven in all educational institutions, the BJP today said that no penalty can be imposed on any person who does not sing the national song.

BJP Spokesman Prakash Javadekar said there was no provision or penalty prescribed for not singing the National Anthem and the same would hold good for National Song too which enjoys equal status as Jana Gana Mana of Gurudev Rabindra Nath Tagore. "You can take the horse to the water and can't make it drink", is the old adage, he remarked.

He denied that the party had gone soft on its earlier demand that the government should make it mandatory for every citizen to sing the national song.

During the freedom struggle, the Muslim League of Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah opposed three of the five stanzas of Vande Matram and now those who are opposing the national song are opposing even the two stanzas of the constitutionally accepted national song. This approach will not stop with just opposing the national song but the national anthem and national flag. "This Muslim League mentality sets a wrong and a dangerous trend", he said.

The party has given direction to all the BJP units and BJP Chief Ministers to organise singing of Vande Mataram in all state capitals and district and mandal headquarters by the party across the country on September seven to mark 100 years of singing Vande Mataram. The song which infused patriotic fervour during the freedom struggle was first sung at the AICC Session at Varanasi in 1905.

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