Lucknow: The Mayor of Meerut Municipal Corporation allegedly refused to let seven corporators participate in a meeting on Tuesday after they refused to sing Vande Mataram.
In a video accessed by CNN-News18, Mayor Harikant Ahluwalia is seen saying that corporators had to sing Vande Mataram before the day’s proceedings.
Ahluwalia is a leader of the BJP, which is in majority in the Meerut Corporation.
He also issued an order that corporators who refuse to sing Vande Mataram will not be allowed to take part in future proceedings of the Nagar Nigam.
The Supreme Court has said that that no one can be forced to sing Vande Mataram against their will. Sources told CNN-News18 that when the corporators told Ahluwalia this, he refused to accept it.
When approached, Ahluwalia told CNN-News18, "Some members opposed Vande Mataram in the meeting. Other members were in the view that this is an insult. This thing is not related to the government, this is the issue of the Nagar Nigam. We have not stopped anyone from entering."
This is not the first time there been a controversy surrounding Vande Mataram. The Kalyan Singh-led Uttar Pradesh government in 1998 had made it compulsory to sing Vande Mataram and Saraswati Vandana in government-run primary schools. The move led to an outcry forcing the government to backtrack.
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