Uttarakhand’s Higher Education Minister Dhan Singh Rawat is trying to ensure that singing of the national anthem and national song should be made compulsory in colleges. Addressing students in a Roorkee private college, Rawat said that if you want to stay in Uttarakhand, you will have to sing Vande Mataram.
Not just singing, the former RSS functionary also said that the songs should only be sung at specific timings. He said that the national anthem should be sung at 10 in the morning and the national song should be recited at 4 in the evening.
However, while speaking to CNN-News18, he clarified his statement saying that his speech has been taken out of context. “Media is not playing my full speech. We are taking advice from various people. From the next session, we will make singing Vande Mataram compulsory in our colleges and schools. Everyone should sing Vande Mataram. In our state, no one is opposing Vande Mataram,” he said.
It’s not just the songs, the state education minister said that there might soon be a dress code for graduate and post-graduate students to bring uniformity among students.
This statement comes just a few days after Rawat had made hoisting of the national flag mandatory in universities across the state.
He is not the first persoon to bring such an order. Last week in Meerut, Mayor Harikant Ahluwalia had said that corporators who refuse to sing Vande Mataram will not be allowed to be a part of the meetings.
In Allahabad too, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Councillors at the Allahabad Nagar Nigam had asked for a ruling where the house proceedings should start by singing Vande Mataram and end with the national anthem.
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