The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh led by Chief Minister Kamal Nath is bringing back the singing of Vande Mataram at the State Secretariat in a new form. Its non-recital on the first working day of the month at SardarVallabhbhai Patel Park near Mantralaya earlier this week had snowballed into a political controversy in the State with the main Opposition party, the BJP, targeting the government over it.
The government’s General Administration Department used to organise the programme for government employees on the first working day of every month.
Under the new system, the singing of Vande Mataram will be a wider exercise involving the active participation of the general public and a police band playing the tune, said an official here on Thursday.
The national anthem will also be sung apart from the national song.
Showpiece event
The police band will start at 10.45 a.m. from the Shaurya Smarak to Vallabh Bhavan playing different patriotic songs, with people in tow. Once they reach Vallabh Bhavan (Secretariat), the national anthem and national song will be sung, the official said. The aim is to make the programme one of Bhopal’s showpiece events, the official said.
The new programme will be organised on first working day of every month at the Secretariat and at the divisional headquarters across the State. Members of the State Council of Ministers will take part in it turn-wise.
The group recitation of Vande Matram for the government employees was introduced by the BJP government led by the then Chief Minister Babulal Gaur in 2005. His successor, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, had continued the practice.