Monday, November 9, 2009

The Holiness of Vande Mataram

My wife thinks I am an over-confident and brash busybody. Perhaps I need to try to change the way I come across. That, however, is not what this blog is about. But it is related.

Assuming that I am opinionated about everything under the sun, she asks me what I think of the Deoband Muslim seminary meet that asks Muslims to stop singing Vande Mataram because it is anti-Islamic. The context of course, is that she thinks that I am unpatriotic and do not love my country. The evidence she cites to support her theory, is my opinion that our country has failed both naxalite-supportive communities and Muslims.

Therefore she is surprised when I say that I have not thought about the issue deeply enough.But as soon as I say that I have not thought about this issue, the gears of my mind begin to turn inadvertently. I begin to think aloud - my wife providing bored audience. Here goes my boring case.

In examining this case, we need to sepeate the idea of the National Song from the National Song itself and try to understand what is it that the Seminary opposed. Secondly, we also need to examine whether the form of protest that the Seminary adopted was appropriate.