{"id":1961,"date":"2026-02-12T08:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T08:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/?p=1961"},"modified":"2026-02-12T08:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T08:28:11","slug":"128245017-cms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/?p=1961","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Sectarian agenda&#8217;: Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind chief criticises government\u2019s mandate on Vande Mataram | India News &#8211; The Times of India"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"MwN2O\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"T22zO\">\n<section class=\"D3Wk1  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  VtlfQ\" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"D3Wk1\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"zPaFh\">\n<div class=\"wJnIp\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-128245222,imgsize-274316,width-400,resizemode-4\/pic-6.jpg\" alt=\"'Sectarian agenda': Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind chief criticises government\u2019s mandate on Vande Mataram\" title=\"President of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind Arshad Madani (ANI)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cj2hz img_cptn\"><span title=\"President of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind Arshad Madani (ANI)\">President of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind Arshad Madani (ANI)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>NEW DELHI: President of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind Arshad Madani on Thursday strongly criticised the Union Government\u2019s decision to make all six stanzas of the national song \u2018<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/vande-mataram\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">Vande Mataram<\/a>\u2019 compulsory at schools, colleges, and official functions, saying it reflects \u201celectoral politics and a sectarian agenda.\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"4\"\/>In a post on X, Madani said, \u201cThe Central Government\u2019s unilateral and coercive decision to make \u2018Vande Mataram\u2019 the national song and to mandate all its stanzas in all government programmes, schools, colleges, and functions is not only a blatant attack on the freedom of religion guaranteed by the Constitution of India but also a systematic attempt to curtail the constitutional rights of minorities.\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"6\"\/><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"8\"\/>He added that the move contradicts the fundamental belief of monotheistic religions and \u201cforcing\u201d a Muslim to sing the song is a clear violation of Article 25 of the Constitution.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"12\"\/>\u201cMuslims do not prevent anyone from singing or playing \u2018Vande Mataram\u2019; however, some verses of the song are based on beliefs that portray the homeland as a deity, which contradict the fundamental belief of monotheistic religions. Since a Muslim worships only one Allah, forcing him to sing this song is a clear violation of Article 25 of the Constitution and several judgments of the Supreme Court. Making this song mandatory and attempting to impose it on citizens is not an expression of patriotism; rather, it reflects electoral politics, a sectarian agenda, and a deliberate effort to divert public attention from fundamental issues,\u201d he added.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"15\"\/>His remarks came after the Union home ministry directed that all six stanzas of the national song Vande Mataram, written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, shall be sung first whenever the national song and the national anthem Jana Gana Mana are played together.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"17\"\/>In an order dated 28 January, the home ministry issued the first set of protocols for singing the national song, specifying that all six stanzas, lasting 3 minutes and 10 seconds, shall be performed at official functions such as the arrival of the President, the unfurling of the national flag, and governors\u2019 speeches.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"20\"\/>\u201cWhen the national song and the national anthem are sung or played, the national song will be sung or played first,\u201d the order stated. It also said that the assembly shall stand at attention when the national song is performed.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"22\"\/>\u201cWhenever the official version of the national song is sung or played, the audience shall stand to attention. However, when the national song is played as part of a newsreel or documentary, the audience is not expected to stand, as doing so may interrupt the screening and create disorder rather than add to the dignity of the national song,\u201d it added.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"24\"\/>The directives further specify that in schools, activities should begin with the playing of the national song.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"26\"\/>The move coincides with the 150th anniversary of the creation of Vande Mataram.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"28\"\/><\/div>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/india\/sectarian-agenda-jamiat-ulama-i-hind-chief-criticises-governments-mandate-on-vande-mataram\/articleshow\/128245017.cms\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind Arshad Madani (ANI) NEW DELHI: President of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind Arshad Madani&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5706,724,5708,1304,723,719,720,721,5704,4971,5707,722,5705,4970],"class_list":["post-1961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-arshad-madani","tag-breaking-news","tag-electoral-politics","tag-freedom-of-religion","tag-google-news","tag-india","tag-india-news","tag-india-news-today","tag-jamiat-ulama-i-hind","tag-national-song","tag-religious-minorities","tag-today-news","tag-union-government","tag-vande-mataram"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d.sheep-mine.ts.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}