NEW DELHI: Faced with controversy over dropping a 13-year-old practice of national song being sung at the state secretariat in Bhopal on the first day of every month on January 1, the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday announced that the practice would now evolve into a new and grander avatar.

It decided, the practice started in 2005 by then CM and BJP veteran Babulal Gaur which involved just state government employees singing it would now involve Bhopal commoners too.

The new practice will see commoners joining a police musical band march from Shaurya Smarak memorial to Vallabh Bhawan (state secretariat) - a distance of around a km - at 10.45 am on first working day of every month to the tunes of patriotic songs throughout the route.

At the Vallabh Bhawan, the CM along with his cabinet colleagues, government officers and employees will join commoners in singing the Vande Mataran as well as the national anthem.
CM Kamal Nath’s spokesperson NS Saluja said the old practice has not been discontinued, instead it has been given a more grander form as promised by the CM.

Similarly, national song and national anthem rendition will also be ensured at all district and divisional headquarters in the state in the morning on the first working day of every month.  
Former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan tweeted though the decision has been taken under public pressure, the question unanswered is as to who, Kamal Nath or Rahul Gandhi, was behind dits discontinuation on new year’s day at the state secretariat.

Chouhan said, he and other BJP MLAs will sing the national song in the state secretariat premises on January 7.

BJP national president Amit Shah too had asked his Congress counterpart Rahul Gandhi to make his stand clear on the issue, while CM Kamal Nath, had on Wednesday, criticized the BJP for playing politics over the issue.