Though a consensus was reached neither at the

December 11: Though a consensus was reached neither at the Education Committee nor the General Body meeting of the Brihanmumbai Municipal...

December 11: Though a consensus was reached neither at the Education Committee nor the General Body meeting of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), corporators from the ruling Sena-BJP alliance and the Opposition were in high dudgeon while discussing the proposal. The casualties: six broken microphones, a few torn blouses and some nasty bruises.

The issue first surfaced at the Education Committee meeting, where Sena corporator Parag Chavan, son of slain MLA Vithal Chavan, moved the proposal. Samajwadi Party corporator Waqarunissa Ansari immediately opposed this, saying it cannot be enforced in Urdu-medium civic schools as the song violates the basic tenets of Islam.

“Vande Mataram is a salutation to one’s motherland but Islam only asks us to salute God,” she reasoned at the meeting, which thankfully saw only a verbal duel.

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Corporators at the post-lunch General Body meeting, however, cast decorum aside when Parag Chavan proposed a notice of motion for the same. Almost immediately, corporators from both sides began a slogan-slinging match. “Maharashtra mein rehna hoga, to Jai Maharashtra kehna hoga; Hindustan mein rehna hoga to Vande Mataram kehna hoga” shouted the SS-BJP combine. “Pehle mehengai kam karo, phir Vande Mataram bolo,” the Opposition retorted.

Led by Mayor Nandu Satam, ruling party corporators rushed towards Speaker Gajanan Thakre and from there on to the Opposition benches hurling invectives.

The Opposition retaliated, signalling a free-for-all. Various articles of clothing bore the brunt of the fracas. Seeing the mikes being uprooted from and tables being smashed, Municipal Secretary Sudha Khire immediately hid all the paper-weights and kept away the longer mikes lest the situation worsened.

Helpless, the Speaker suspended the House for 15 minutes and then slipped away. The Opposition sang the national anthem and walked out and when the House re-assembled, Satam said he would initiate an inquiry into the fracas. The issue will now be taken up on Monday.

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Following the temporary lull, the Opposition was back in action. “This is a non-issue which has been raked up to garner the dwindling Hindu votebank,” said Opposition leader Kisan Jadhav.

K A Bastiwala (Cong) said Muslims are even forbidden from touching the feet of their parents. “That does not mean they don’t love their parents.” Yusuf Abrahani (SP) said: “The Bombay High Court as well as the Kerala High Court have already ruled that it is not compulsory to recite Vande Mataram as it is not even a national anthem; so by not singing it one does not become anti-national.”

He remarked that the Speaker should not have entertained the notice of motion under Rule 28 of the BMC Act as it is not related to civic business. “By making it compulsory in civic schools you are taking communalism and hatred to the level of tiny tots,” he commented.

Party member Riyaz Wanoo, stated: “Article 28 of the Constitution clearly says no religious instructions shall be provided to any educational institution wholly maintained out of state funds. All the BMC schools come under this provision.”