Time Line

This is an update to the FAQposted on the site earlier and provides an overview of the controversy.

June 8: Several Hyderabad based muftis, including All--India Sunni Ulema Board president Moulana Syed Shah Badruddin QadriAljeelani, Moulana Mohammed Hasnuddin, Moulana Mohammed Mastan Ali, Nazima Azizand Rizwana Zarreen of Jamiat--ul--Mominath, jointly issue a fatwa askingMuslims not to admit their children in schools where Vande Mataram is sung everymorning. Children who are already studying in such institutions must beimmediately shifted to other schools, the fatwa says.

July 13: In an all-party meet on the 150th anniversary celebrations of 1857, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,various suggestions are made. L.K. Advani had reiterated that Pakistan and Bangladesh should also be included, but apparently, Murali Manohar Joshi insisted that in schools and government functions, not just the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram, but the entire song should be sung. Manmohan Singh went on to say, "I also think we must re-discover the aesthetic beauty of the freedom movement. The celebration of the writing of our National Song, Vande Mataram, should be used to underscore the cultural and aesthetic sources of Indian nationalism."

Significantly, the PM also emphasised that "the celebration of ourfreedom movement should not become an occasion for jingoism, narrow nationalismand chauvinism. Rather, it must be an opportunity to celebrate our diversity,our liberalism, our civilisational inheritance and the values of integrity andservice to man that defined the national movement. I hope we can communicatethese ideas and values through the programmes we undertake to organize."Little did he know.

August 8: Arjun Singh, Union HRD Minister shoots off his letter toletterto chief ministers saying '...the first two stanzas ofthe National Song, Vande Mataram should be sung simultaneously at 11.00 AM on7th September, 2006 in all schools, colleges and other educational institutionsthroughout the country'

As historian Sumit Sarkar was to point out later,"It was the HRD ministry that had started it all bycalling for the observance of September 7 as some kind of centenary occasion forthe song. The surprising thing is that nothing relevant to the song happened onSeptember 7, 1906 (or, 1905). The Congress did not take any decision then aboutits national status, for the simple reason that it always met in the last weekof December. Clearly the HRD ministry had been wrongly advised." He addsthat the Congress' "Banaras session of December 1905 did hear the song sungby Sarala Debi, in what had become a common practice since the beginning of theanti-Partition [of Bengal] movement in Bengal a few months back. But there wasno discussion or decision about a national anthem, there, or in the session heldexactly a year later in Calcutta in 1906."

Meanwhile, there are protests from various Muslimorganisations as reports of the letter to chief ministers appear.

August 19: Arjun Singh says the Muslims shouldnot have any objection to reciting the song.

August 20: Arjun Singh says the directive inletter to chief ministers is voluntary in nature. It was aimed at paying tributeto freedom fighters and martyrs: The song should not be viewed otherwise.

August 21: Vijay Kumar Malhotra, senior leader, BJP: says: The HRDMinister's remarks that there will be no compulsion to sing Vande Mataram is asign of abject surrender to fundamentalists and anti-nationals who should ratherhave been told to leave India if they do not want to recite the national song.Also, those who are refusing to sing Vande Mataram should be booked for treason.

August 22: There is pandemonium in Parliament. Arjun Singh repeatsthat it was only a suggestion, voluntary in nature, whereas BJP calls it"appeasement".

Vijay Kumar Malhotra, senior leader, BJP: says: His (Arjun Singh's) statementthat there was no compulsion on anybody to sing the national song is a crime. Heshould be booked for insulting the national song. We are considering legalaction against him.

Abhishek Manu Singhvi, spokesperson, Congress says: The Congress party andthe country is proud of the National Song Vande Mataram which had electrifiedour freedom fighters and who made umpteen sacrificed....Even then if a communityor group feels otherwise, they are free to recite it or not. We agree with theUnion Minister Arjun Singh in this regard.

September 1: Maulana Mohammed Arif of Darul Uloom Deoband, Moradabad, issues an "appeal" to Muslims to keep their children away from schoolson September 7 to avoid getting into any controversy with regard to singing ofVande Mataram in educational institutions on that day.

September 2: All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board chairmanShaista Amber supports the Deoband "appeal" saying "it can besung voluntarily but no one should be forced to sing it".

Sepetmber 3: Madarsa Darul Ulloom of Deoband issues a fatwa againstBJP Vice President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi "for saying that there's nothingwrong with Muslims singing Vande Mataram".

September 3: Mufti Zulfiqar, president of Uttar Pradesh ImamsOrganisation and a member of district Shariat court says forcing people to singVande Mataram would create more controversy and nobody should be forced to singthe song.

September 6: The Imarat-e-Shariah, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissadeclines to issue a fatwa either against the singing of Vande Mataram or againstsome Muslim leaders of the BJP, saying "we know Vande issue is being usedfor political interests; hence, there’s no need to speak on it" and"if somebody is speaking against the Islamic code or clerics, it is hisindividual opinion".