Jairam Thakur seeks legal action against Congress leaders
Munish Sood
Mandi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday staged a candle march in Mandi, accusing senior Congress leaders of disrespecting the national song Vande Mataram. The protest was led by former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur.
The march began from the BJP district office at Raj Mahal and culminated outside the Congress district office at Gandhi Bhawan in Chauhatta Bazaar, where BJP leaders and workers raised slogans against the Congress leadership and sang the complete Vande Mataram.
Addressing a street meeting after the march, Jairam Thakur alleged that an “extremely unfortunate” incident took place outside the Congress headquarters in New Delhi during an Independence Day programme on August 15.
Thakur alleged that during the programme, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi attempted to stop Vande Mataram midway. He claimed that the song was allowed to continue only after participants were reminded that Parliament had made provisions regarding the complete rendition of the national song.
Calling the alleged incident an insult to the national song, Thakur demanded strict legal action against the Congress leaders responsible.
He said that for decades, the country had been made to listen to only a truncated version of Vande Mataram, and claimed that the NDA government’s move to ensure its complete rendition had been welcomed across the country.
Thakur alleged that the controversy had exposed what he described as the Congress leadership’s “hollow nationalism” and said the party was unable to accept the new provisions.
He urged the Central Government to initiate stringent legal proceedings against those found guilty of disrespecting the national song, arguing that such action would prevent similar incidents in the future.
Thakur said the BJP had decided to organise demonstrations outside Congress offices across the country to protest what it described as the Congress leadership’s attitude towards Vande Mataram.
The protest was attended by Nachan MLA Vinod Kumar, Sundernagar MLA Rakesh Jamwal, Balh MLA Inder Singh Gandhi, Sarkaghat MLA Dalip Thakur, Drang MLA Puran Chand, BJP state general secretary Payal Vaidya, former MLA Hira Lal, Mandi Mayor Suman Thakur and BJP district president Nihal Chand Sharma, besides a large number of party workers.
