First recital of Vande Mataram held in Pune on Ganesh Visarjan

Pune, Sep 6 (UNI) The first recital of Vande Mataram, the national song which is celebrating its centenary this year on September was sung by singer, Rahul Deshpande, at Khandoba chowk, the immersion venue, late tonight.

Vande Mataram motivated the people of India against the British Raj.

Mayor Rajni Tribhuvan and Congress city president Abhay Chhajed were present at the venue, when he sang it at 0000 hrs.

Thousands of students will sing Vande Mataram in the Ideal colony at Kothrud at 1000 hrs tomorrow.

As per the guideline issued by Union Education Minister Arjun Singh, singing of the song is optional. Most of the political parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena are demanding that the song must be sung by the children of the government-run schools tomorrow.

Meanwhile, nearly 900 idols of Lord Ganesh were immersed in the Mutha river, police control room said.

The procession was peaceful. It is likely to end early morning as there are still 3,000 idols to be immersed, sources added.

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