MUMBAI: The controversy over the singing of “Vande Mataram” and the fatwa issued by the Jamiat-E-Ulema Hind (JuH) two days ago in Deoband in the presence of Federal Home Minister P. Chidambaram stating that Muslims would not sing that song, has now taken a ugly turn with hardcore Hindu organizations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Shiv Sena issuing threats to Muslims.
In a harsh and hard hitting editorial published in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece “Saamna” published on Friday under the heading “Chop off these tongues”, Sena chief Bal Thackeray infuriated over the fatwa, termed the Muslims who refuse to sing Vande Mataram as “traitors.” He alleged that the presence of Chidambaram at the JuH convention indicated that the resolution had government patronage and the opposition to the song was infuriating.
Thackeray wrote “those who want such religious freedom and could rather act as per the directives of the Qur’an and the Shariah, and oppose the worship of the motherland, should leave the country. Let us see who pampers them outside. Whatever has happened till today has happened, but henceforth the tongues of those who oppose Vande Mataram must be chopped,” the threatened in the editorial.
Coming down heavily on “hard-line” Muslims, Thackeray said he wondered why there was opposition to the singing of “Vande Mataram,” which he said only, pays respect to motherland.
