BJP govt orders students to sing ‘Vande Mataram’ at madrasahs in West Bengal

The BJP provincial government in West Bengal has made it mandatory for students at madrasahs to sing the song “Vande Mataram” in morning assemblies.

The move comes a week after the newly elected state government ordered that the song must be recited at school assemblies, and adds to growing pressure on religious rights and values of minorities in the country.

Notably, in February, the BJP-led federal government accorded the song a status equal to the country's national anthem, Jana Gana Mana, making it compulsory that all six stanzas are sung at all government and school events alongside the national anthem.

The song was widely used in India’s independence struggle, but the secularist parties have for long given it a status lower than the national anthem owing to its religious connotation.

India’s Muslim minority, representing 15% of the entire country’s population and 27% of West Bengal population, have strong reservations over its veneration of an “immobile figure” like the country as a “divine entity.”

Furthermore, the sixth and final stanza explicitly upholds Hindu goddesses Durga and Lakshmi, making it discouraging to listen to or sing for monotheist Muslims and also Christians in the country.

An order passed by the Directorate of Madrasah of the state govt stated that the recital of Vande Mataram will be mandatory in all madrasahs across the state of West Bengal during the morning assembly. The order will be applicable to all recognised, aided and unaided madrasahs that come under the Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education Department of the West Bengal government.

Mataram mandate for schools

Last week, in one of the first decisions, the new Suvendu Adhikari government had made singing of all six stanzas of Vande Mataram mandatory in all schools across the state. The students must sing the national song before starting their classes during the morning assembly, the order stated.

"Overriding the previous directive, the West Bengal government has made it mandatory with immediate effect for all schools under the Department of School Education to sing the Indian national song Vande Mataram during the school assembly or morning prayer before the commencement of classes," CM Suvendu Adhikari said in an online post.

Vande Mataram, a rallying cry for freedom fighters in the battle to liberate India from colonial rule, had returned to political discourse ahead of this year's state election.