Kashmirs separatist womens group Dukhtaran-e-Millat has protested the singing of the national song Vande Mataram by school children in Srinagar.
Srinagar, Nov 16 : Kashmir's separatist women's group Dukhtaran-e-Millat has protested the singing of the national song 'Vande Mataram' by school children in Srinagar.
Asiya Andrabi, chief of the Dukhtaran-e-Millat, accused Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad of trying to promote Hindu ideals and faith in the region.
"We want them (clerics) to make the people of Kashmir understand the meaning of 'Vande Mataram'. By making the Kashmiri children recite Vande Mataram, these people want to deviate them from their faith. I am sure that once the people of Kashmir come to know the exact meaning of Vande Mataram, they will not even want to look at it," she said.
Earlier, 'Vande Mataram', penned by a Bengali poet Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, also sparked protests when Muslims had taken a divided stand over the issue of singing the national song throughout the schools in the country.
Muslims feel that the Sanskrit language song "Vande Mataram" has strong connotations of Hindu deity worship because it reveres India as a holy goddess, which is against Islam's basic tenets.
Although "Vande Mataram" was the frontrunner to become the national anthem when the country became independent in 1947, it was rejected, as Muslims felt offended over the depiction of the country as a Hindu goddess.
Instead, "Jana Gana Mana", penned by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, was chosen.
ANI