Row over national song: Meerut police release arrested BJP councillors after protests

“We appeal to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to look into the matter because Meerut police had arrested two corporators for objecting to the boycott staged by eleven AIMIM councillors when ‘Vande Matram’ was being recited by BJP Rajya Sabha MP Lakshmikant Bajpai and Meerut MP Rajendra Agarwal,” said BJP trade unit chief Vineet Sharda.

“BJP leaders also lodged a complaint, but police did not take action against AIMIM workers. We will take up the matter with higher-ups,” said BJP’s Meerut unit chief Mukesh Singhal.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rohit Singh Sajwan said, “They were arrested after a complaint lodged by AIMIM workers. They have been released now, but we are investigating the matter and will take action against those found guilty.”

Police said BJP and AIMIM members clashed following a row over the recital of ‘Vande Matram’ during the swearing-in ceremony. Following this, all 11 councillors of the AIMIM and three of the Azad Samaj Party boycotted the ceremony, but later senior police and administrative officials convinced them to attend the ceremony, said police.

AIMIM and Azad Samaj Party members later lodged a complaint at the Medical police station against their BJP counterparts accusing them of unnecessarily creating a ruckus to spoil the ceremony, said police.

“The national song was recited at the beginning of the ceremony. But it was wrongly recited to which Laxmikant Bajpai and Rajendra Kumar Agarwal raised an objection and asked to recite the song again. We objected and asked them to recite the national anthem instead. This provoked the BJP members and they attacked us,” said Azad Samaj Party’s Meerut unit chief Pawan Gurjar.

“The national song was wrongly recited, and hence, we decided to recite it on our own. When Rajendra Agarwal and I started reciting the national song they objected to it which infuriated our members. AIMIM and Azad party councillors walked out of the hall in protest but we asked officials to call them back,” said Bajpai.

AIMIM’s Meerut unit chief Imran Ansari said, “Our party members did not oppose the national song and it was recited at the beginning of the programme, but we opposed its recital again. We said the programme should be ended with the national anthem but the BJP councillors turned violent and attacked us.”

“It’s unfortunate that BJP members deliberately created the situation to hog the limelight. We believe in the Constitution and go by the law of the land,” said Fahim Ahmed, an AIMIM leader.

Meerut District Magistrate Deepak Meena said, “There was chaos for some time, but we controlled the situation. Some AIMIM members boycotted the ceremony, but we convinced them to return to the programme.”