Kerala BJP to sing full Vande Mataram at 15,000 centres

The Kerala Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will organise programmes to sing the full version of the national song Vande Mataram at 15,000 centres across the state on August 15, state BJP president and MLA Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Thursday.

The programmes will be held at party booths, panchayat, constituency and district centres, with the national flag being hoisted and the full version of Vande Mataram sung. BJP workers will coordinate the events.

The Kerala programme is part of a nationwide BJP campaign that will be held at lakhs of locations on Independence Day.

Chandrasekhar said the initiative was intended to reinforce the message of national unity and patriotism and to counter what he described as “attempts to insult Vande Mataram and lend political support to forces hostile to the country”.

“By holding aloft the Tricolour, the BJP will remain at the forefront of the struggle to protect India’s unity, integrity and sovereignty and to build a developed India,” he added.

The BJP leader also accused the CPI-M and Congress of extending political support to forces that, according to him, seek to weaken the country. He said the people of Kerala would recognise such positions.

Chandrasekhar said Vande Mataram had an inseparable connection with India’s freedom struggle and that preserving its significance was the responsibility of every Indian.

“By singing Vande Mataram in unison at 15,000 centres across Kerala on Independence Day, the BJP will send a strong message of nationalism and patriotism,” Chandrasekhar said.

The announcement comes days after ruling Congress leaders, including a Kerala minister, said only the first two couplets of the national song would be sung at state government events.

On Thursday, Chief Minister V D Satheesan said that the government has a clear policy regarding the singing of the national song and that the same will be clear during the Independence Day celebrations on August 15.

The BJP’s 15,000-centre programme will be conducted at the booth, panchayat, constituency and district levels as part of the party’s wider Independence Day campaign across the country.