Vande Mataram not sung at MP secretariat; BJP targets CM

The incident of "Vande Mataram" not being sung on the first working day of January at Madhya Pradesh secretariat has come to light, with the opposition BJP Tuesday pointing the finger at Chief Minister Kamal Nath.

Singing of the national song in the Mantralaya or secretariat on the first working day of every month has been the norm since the time of erstwhile Shivraj Singh Chouhan government of the BJP.

Responding to this, former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that - "It's unfortunate that Congress ended this tradition. I demand Congress govt to reintroduce this & if they don't do it, I will sing Vande Matram with patriots at Vallabh Bhavan. I've decided that I will sing Vande Matram in the premises at 11 am on January 6".

Madhya Pradesh General Administration Department (GAD) additional chief secretary Prabhanshu Kamal could not be contacted despite repeated calls.

State unit BJP spokesman Rajneesh Agrawal tweeted that the rendition of Vande Mataram is organised by the state general administration department (GAD), a portfolio held by Chief Minister Kamal Nath.

"Has it been on his direction? He (Nath) has recently said that he does not care for criticism. Is there going to be a ban on 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' chant (sic)," he tweeted.

When contacted, state Congress spokesman Bhupendra Gupta sought to play down the incident, saying the CM is out of station.

He said the rendition of Vande Mataram couldn't take place as SR Mohanty took charge as Chief Secretary Tuesday, implying that officials remained busy.

"Why the BJP is creating fuss over it? If it (Vande Matram) was not sung today, its rendition will take place tomorrow or later. Nothing much should be read into this," the Congress leader said.