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‘Vande Matram opponents should go to Pakistan’

LAHORE: Criticising the Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind for issuing a fatwa against singing Vande Mataram, India’s national song, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray was quoted by Indian media as saying that those who oppose the song “should go to Pakistan”. Thackeray said the fatwa was issued in the presence of Home Minister P Chidambaram, which was proof that “the Centre has indulged into minority appeasement”. “If anti-national fatwas are issued in the presence of the Union home minister then there is no future for this country. It looks like the Centre has a policy of Muslim appeasement for votes,” Thackeray was quoted as saying. He said Vande Mataram was not just two words, but “a flame to invoke nationalism”. “If you don’t want to salute the motherland, then whom do you salute? What is the shame in saluting Bharatmata? Those who don’t want to salute Bharatmata should go to Pakistan or Bangladesh. There is no place for such traitors in India,” Thackeray said. Meanwhile, the fatwa also drew fierce criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which called the move “anti-national”, APP reported. “We oppose the fatwa and will not tolerate such religious decrees at any cost. They are against our national values,” BJP General Secretary Kalraj Mishra said. daily times monitor/app

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