Modi leads Gujarat in singing Vande Mataram

Gandhinagar, Sep 7 (UNI) Governor Nawal Kishore Sharma, Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet Ministers today joined hundreds of others in singing the national song here on the occasion of its centenary celebrations.

A huge pandal had been set up on the lawns of the Secretariat complex for a programme to commemorate the day. Apart from Mr Modi, Ministers Anandiben Patel, Ashok Bhatt, Narottam Patel, Amit Shah and others, bureaucrats and all Secretariat employees participated in it.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Modi said, ''It is not simply a national song, it is a 'maha mantra' for building a grand India.'' Governor Sharma presided over a function at the Raj Bhavan, in which all Raj Bhawan employees sang 'Vande Mataram'.

Several such programmes were also held in all Government offices, and also offices of municipal corporations, panchayats, all state-run boards and corporations and government-aided institutions.

Majority of schools across the state organised special programmes for the rendition of the song, despite incessant rains since last night.

Despite some reservations voiced by some Muslim leaders about the song, who said it ''went against Islamic teachings', the students of several community-run institutions too participated in the programmes.

''Singing of Vande Mataram was held in all our affiliated institutions,'' said sources at the F D Educational Society, which runs separate schools for boys and girls and a Arts and Commerce college too.

In the communally-sensitive Godhra town, two Muslim dominated schools--Iqbal High School and Iqbal Girls High School--too joined the centenary celebrations of the song, written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya in 1876.

Minority institutions in Surat like Surat Muslims Young Graduate Society school, Begumpura MTB Girls School and MTB Technical Education School in Rampura, also participated in the singing of the song, a report said.

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