On a day that Union Home Minister P Chidambaram was attending, the 30th general session of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind on Tuesday sparked off a controversy when one of the 25 resolutions passed by it asked Muslims not to recite the Vande Mataram, on the grounds that some verses of the national song are against the tenets of Islam.

“The fatwa of Darul Uloom (opposing recitation of the Vande Mataram) is correct,” said the resolution passed on Tuesday, referring to an edict passed in 2006 describing singing of the national song as anti-Islamic. Over 10,000 clerics from across the country adopted the resolution.

Criticising the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, the BJP has questioned the presence of Chidambaram at the function “after the resolution had been passed” as well as his failure to speak out against it.

While former BJP president Murli Manohar Joshi said the resolution against Vande Mataram was “against Constitutional provisions”, its Muslim face and party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said Chidambaram’s silence was “a matter of concern”. The party said by keeping quiet, the Home Minister had legitimised the resolution.

The Jamiat resolution refers to a judgment of the Supreme Court “clearly stating that nobody can be compelled to sing the Vande Mataram”.

“Patriotism does not require singing of the Vande Mataram. We love our country and have proved this several times, but Vande Mataram violates our faith in monotheism that is the foundation of Islam,” the resolution said.

“We love and respect the mother, but do not worship her... The house demands that the issue of Vande Mataram should not be deliberately raised for causing communal discord and threat to law and order.” The resolution also condemned what it called the exploitation of Vande Mataram for targeting Muslims.

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