Chennai: ‘Vande Mataram’, the patriotic song that had a major role to play in India’s independence movement for over a century, will have to be played at least once a week in government and private schools, colleges, universities and industries, the Madras High Court ruled on Tuesday.
Seven months after the Supreme Court directed all cinemas halls to play Jana Gana Mana, the national anthem, before a film is screened, the Madras High court ordered the State government to take steps to play the ‘National Song – ‘Vande Mataram’ in all schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions at least once a week. The song shall also be played and sung in all government offices and institutions, private companies, factories and industries at least once a month.
When a petition filed by K.Veeramani, an aspirant for the post of BT Assistant, came up for hearing before Justice M.V. Muralidaran, the judge passed the order stating that “patriotism is an essential requirement for every citizen of this country. Our Motherland should always be remembered by every citizen of this country”. Several people sacrificed their lives, and families too, during the struggle for independence and songs like our national song “Vande Mataram” created a sense of belief and confidence among the people.
The judge said our independence struggle had been one of the toughest freedom struggles across the world. In order to unify and to create a feeling of oneness amongst all in the country, several renowned leaders and authors composed several songs, poems, verses and also enacted several street plays and dramas to bring together the people for the sustained struggle for independence.
He elaborated that one such song - “Vande Mataram” which meant “I bow to thee, Mother” - touched thousands of people and acted as unifier. Vande Mataram was originally penned as “Bondey Matorom” by Bongkim Chondro Chottoapadhyay in Bengali. It was later translated into Sanskrit as “Vande Mataram”. Though Sanskrit has been used in the song cursorily, the song was written in Bengali, he pointed out.
He noted that perhaps in today’s modern era where we have marched ahead with technology, our lives have changed a lot. We have become busy with our own lives that sometimes we forget our nation.
Stating that considering the larger public interest and to instil a sense of patriotism in every one, the judge said the court passed the order and said in the event, any person/ organisation faces difficulty in singing or playing the national song, he or she shall not be compelled to sing it, provided there are valid reasons.
TRB candidate gets HC relief in ‘Vande Mataram’ question row
The Madras High court directed TRB to appoint Veeramani as B.T. Assistant, if otherwise eligible, in four weeks. In the petition, Veeramani sought direction to Teacher Recruitment Board, which conducted recruitment for BT Assistant, to award one mark for the answer attended by him in the competitive examination for the question No: 107 (D-Type) (Paper II), in which it was asked to answer “In which language the song “Vande Mataram”was written first”. It was asked to choose right answer among four choices - “(A) Bengali (B) Urdu (C) Marathi (D) Sanskrit.”
Veeraman marked Bengali as correct answer and however TRB stated it was a wrong answer. The TRB had unfortunately not correctly valued his answer sheet and due to this was declared as an unsuccessful candidate.
Aggrieved over this he filed the petition seeking direction to TRB to award one mark for the question and also sought a direction to reserve one post of BT Assistant in Government High School. Though initially, Advocate General R. Muthukumarasamy, informed the court that the song was written in Sanskrit, later he also accepted the fact that the it was originally written in Bengali.
Court has placed its appreciation for assistance provided by advocates Sujatha, Bilal and Annadurai for taking pains in providing voluminous material for resolving the issue.
