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Publication: IBN Live
Date: September 02, 2006
URL: http://www.ibnlive.com/news/muslim-group-issues-fatwa-against-bjp-bigwig-naqvi%20%20/20386-4.html
The Vande Mataram controversy seems to have
moved beyond 'to sing or not to sing' dilemma and has become more of political
cacophony.
After the BJP-ruled states made compulsory
the singing of National Song on September 7, much to the annoyance of Muslim
groups, the party is facing the music.
The supreme body of Sunnis, the hardliner
Darul Uloom of Deoband, has issued a fatwa (religious edict) against BJP vice-president
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi for his advocacy of the National Song - which they say
goes against the tenets of Islam.
Naqvi had condemned the refusal by some Muslim
clerics to abide by the directive on compulsory singing of Vande Mataram in
schools on September 7.
He had said that those who oppose the National
Song should "leave the country".
"Those who oppose our national song should
better leave the country. Their opposition is a reflection of their separatist
mindset," Naqvi had said, adding, "Every faith preaches patriotism.
Those who are opposing singing of Vande Mataram in the name of Islam are going
against the tenets of the faith."
Citing religious reasons, some Muslim leaders
have opposed the central directive to all schools to recite the first two
stanzas of the National Song to mark the centenary of its adoption.
"Reciting Vande Mataram is against the
tenets of the Shariat (Islamic law)," Zafaryab Jilani, a member of the
All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), had said.
"There are some lines in Vande Mataram
which go against our religion," he said.
(With inputs from Bhupendra Chaubey)