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30. Vande Mataram �dispute� at BJP Muslim meeting

The Indian Express
New Delhi, 8 June 1997
30. Vande Mataram �dispute�
at BJP Muslim meeting
Express News Service

NEW DELHI, JUNE 7 - A MISUNDERSTANDING between firebrand BJP leader Uma Bharati and her senior Sikander Bakht over �Vande Mataram� created a flutter at the National Muslim Youth Convention organised by the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha here today.

In a departure from BJP tradition, the convention did not begin with the national song, inviting Bakht�s wrath. Chiding the Muslim community for what he called its well-known objections to Vande Mataram, the BJP leader told the gathering that he was �ashamed� by this.

Vande Mataram means salutation to the Motherland, he said. �Can�t we salute our Motherland? Why should we be ashamed of it?� he asked.

Bharati, however, clarified later that she had scrapped the song as the president of the Morcha because no one had come prepared to sing it. �No one knew all the words or had practised the song,� she said in defence of her decision. �Unfortunately, Bakhtji got the wrong impression.�*

Bakht told ENS that he was not upset with Bharati for her decision. �She did it out of consideration for the Muslim community. I am upset that Muslims feel this way about the song. Why should this feeling be there at all?� he said.
 

Footnotes:

* Uma Bharati has perfected the art of lying with a straight face. Hindus should beware of double-faced firebrands like her. She is quite capable of spitting venom against Hindus and Hinduism in her usual firebrand fashion if her claim as an OBC leader, or as a warrior for woman�s rights, or even as a spokesperson for the dalits is not conceded in due course.
 

     

Time for Stock Taking - Whither Sangh Parivar?

Sita Ram Goel
Chapters
Introduction 1. A Call for an Intellectual (Bauddhika) Kshatriya 2. Ideological Defence of Hindu Society 1. G.V. Ashtekar 2. Professor G.C. Asnani 3. Deep Chandra Awasthi 4. P. N. Awasthi 5. S. K. Balasubramanian 6. Abhas Chatterjee 7. G.C. Chaudhary 8. S. K. Dalvi 9. Ashoke Dasgupta 10. Jitendra D. Desai 11. Nachiketa Dogra 12.  Adwayanand R. Galatge 13. K. B. Ganapathy 14. Padmashri Shalil Ghosh 15. Bhagwati Prasad Goenka 16. Shiv Goud 17. S. C. Gupta 18. B.L. Jaju 19. H.C. Joshi 20.  Dr. S.D. Kulkarni 21.  S.D. Laghate 22.  Professor K. Lakshminarayana 23. Professor K.S. Lal 24. Professor R. R. Mangasuli 25. T. G. Mohandas 26.  Professor S. G. Mujumdar 27.  P. R. K. Naidu 28.  S. Omkar 29. Virendra V. Parekh 30. Hem Raj Prabhakar 31. Baljit Rai 32. Dr. H. Ramarao 33. B.K. Rao 34. (Mrs) Veda Sampath 35. Smt.  M. Sandhya 36. K. Satya Deva Prasad 37. Jagannath Sharma 38. Ajit Singh 39.  Ram Autar Singh 40. Vikram Singh 41. Dr. Vinay Kumar Sinha 42. Shrikant G. Talageri 43. Mrs. Leela Tampi 44. B. K. Verma 45. R. C. Waswani 46. P. S. Yog 47. Brief Responses 1. Sarva Dharma Samabhãva or Sarva Dharma Sambhrama?  (Unity or Confusion of Religions?) 2. Meaning of Conversions 1. Roll Over, Rushdie 2. Standing Up to Scrutinize Islam 3. Turning away from Mecca 4. Islam is religious fascism 5. Courageous author puts his life on the line 6. Far more dangerous than Nazism 1. Legacy of hate 2. BJP shifts stand to woo Muslims 3. BJP promoting a �minority-friendly� image for elections 4. BJP looks for Muslim plank to move towards Delhi 5. BJP girds up to appease Muslim 6. Khurana�s go-slow on migrants issue irks hawks 7. Pampering the minority ego 8. BJP to bring out Koran in Sanskrit 9. Vajpayee for diluting stand on �Hindutva� 10. More Space for �namaaz� urged 11. Chhabildas sticks to his guns on minority votes 12. Advani allays minorities fears 13. Secret of BJP�s success 14. Advani woos Indian expatriates in London, assails Govt�s Kashmir policy 15. BJP bid to woo Muslims 16. �How can any Muslim in this country say that he does not respect Ram?� 17. Malhotra�s statement on Ayodhya annoys Chavan 18. BJP bid to win over Muslims 19. RSS wants Muslims for friends 20. Babri or �Barabari�? 21. Bihar BJP�s first-ever Muslim leader emerges 22. J.K. Hindu exiles eulogise Thackeray 23. Secularism is the very colour of our blood: Vajpayee 24. A good augury 25. Muslims in Behrampada voted in a pragmatic way 26. Joshi sparks off row over Religion Bill 27. VHP drops plan to �liberate� Kashi, Mathura 28. Govt seeks revision of order on Naib Imam 29. BJYM�S meet on June 7 30. Vande Mataram �dispute� at BJP Muslim meeting The Tabligh Movement or Millions of Bearded Militants on the March 1. Population Explosion in West Bengal: A Survey