Grand end to Vande Mataram singing centenary

New Delhi, Sep 5 (UNI) All is set for a grand finale of the controversy-riddled centenary celebrations of the singing of national song 'Vande Mataram'.

Brushing aside all criticism, a host of leaders, including Union Ministers Arjun Singh, Ambika Soni, Mani Shankar Aiyar and M V Rajasekharan would join in the celebrations at the Red Fort here on Thursday.

The National Committee for Centenary Celebrations of the song has organised its collective singing besides a public meet on September 7 to pay tributes to the freedom fighters who used the song as a war cry against British imperialism.

Former Union Ministers Mohsina Kidwai and Arif Mohammad Khan, MPs Rashid Alvi and Motilal Vora, former MP Syed Shahabuddin, CPI Secretary Amarjit Kaur, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Nehru Yuvak Kendra Director General Shakeel Ahmed Khan are among those expected to speak on the occasion, Committee Convenor Shashi Bhushan told reporters.

''The month of September marked the climax of the singing of Vande Mataram during the agitation against the British plan to partition Bengal on communal lines in 1905,'' he said, explaining the rationale for holding the event now. ''Some date had to be kept for the celebrations''.

Moreover, the ''Indian National Congress adopted it as a National Song at its Varanasi session in 1905 presided over by Gopal Krishan Gokhale''.

Asked about reports of ''fatwa'' against its singing by some Muslim clerics, he retorted: ''It is incorrect to say that Muslims are opposed to the singing of Vande Mataram. It is being sung in madarsas even today.

''Ashfaqullah Khan walked to the gallows singing the song; eight Congress Presidents in the past have sung it; for 25 years Mohammad Ali Jinnah sang Vande Mataram when he was a General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee. Will there be a fatwa against them also now,'' the former MP and freedom fighter said.

He, however, made it clear that no one was ever compelled to sing the song during the freedom struggle. ''When we did not make it compulsory to sing the national song during the freedom struggle, then why make it compulsory now,'' he said in response to a question.

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