Vande Mataram centenary to be observed in Maharashtra

Mumbai, Sep 6 (UNI) All political parties will observe the centenary of Vande Mataram by organising mass singing of the national song tommorrow even as the Maharashtra Government said that its singing will not be forced.

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has earlier stated that the song depicts the national ethos and should be respected. The government has appealed to people to voluntarily participate in the centenary of the song's adoption by the Indian National Congress.

''The state government has taken the same stand as the Union Human Resource Development Ministry and therefore we are keeping the option of singing Vande Mataram open,'' a government spokesman said.

Meanwhile, people from all walks of life and political parties will sing Vande Mataram at various places.

''Vande Mataram, a song to salute the nation became a great inspiration for freedom fighers, it was recited by the founders of Indian National Congress including Rabindranath Tagore in the presence of A O Hume, an Englishman in late 1896 at the Calcutta session of the Congress. It was adopted by Congress officially on September 7,1905. In the Lahore session of the Congress under the leadership of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the resolution of complete swarajya was passed, much before the birth of RSS and BJP,'' said Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Seva Dal president Chandrakant Dayama.

Mr Dayama said the celebration of the song would be done by singing it across the state at 1100 hrs simultaneously by Seva Dal workers.

BJP leader Vinod Tawade has organised Vande Mataram programme at Azad Maidan where celebrities like Boman Irani, Raveena Tandon are expected to attend.

Shiv Sena has also organised Vande Mataram singing programme all over the state.

Congress will observe the song's centenary at its party office in central Mumbai in the presence of Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and state unit president Prabha Rau after which the party will continue its deliberations for chalking out its strategy for the upcoming local bodies elections.

UNI MR ADG YA BST1935