Yogi Adityanath: Why resist singing ‘Vande Mataram’?

LUCKNOW: Amid the ongoing row over the singing of ‘Vande Mataram’, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Saturday that an opposition to sing the national song by some people is a “matter of grave concern”.

Yogi was speaking at the launch of the book ‘A Governor’s Guide: Role and Duties of the Governor under the Constitution of India’ by UP Governor Ram Naik’s legal advisor SS Upadhyay at the Raj Bhawan here. The governor was also present.

Yogi’s comment comes after a controversy that sparked recently when a few corporators of Meerut Municipal Corporation protested the singing of Vande Mataram at the corporation hall.

“I was attending a function recently in Allahabad on the completion of 150 years of the high court of Allahabad where PM Narendra Modi and CJI Kehar were present. The programme took off with the signing of Vande Matram. But, unfortunately, singing of Vande Matram is being opposed by some in the state. What concerns me is the unnecessary resistance to it,” he said.

The chief minister said Uttar Pradesh was fortunate to have a learned and enlightened governor in Ram Naik, who has the courage to set things right whenever governments in the past have attempted to function arbitrarily.