09 November,2009 08:21 AM IST | | Varun Singh
The phone in the office rang, a right wing leader was on the other end of the line. He had called to inquire whether I had received his press statement. It read as follows, "Not singing Vande Mataram is anti-national and those who don't do so should leave the country and settle in Pakistan." This was a desperate attempt by people vying for their 15 seconds of fame. The right wing leader called again inquiring whether the statement could be printed. I politely turned him down rationalising that there was no story that could be done on it. The leader swiftly replied, "What should I do to get my statement printed in the papers? Do you want us to get on the streets?" I understood what he was hinting at and curtly told him to contact someone else.
This incident happened after the Vande Materam issue resurfaced recently and hogged headlines. The Shiv Sena, who were overshadowed by the MNS, and had no work to do, got an excellent opportunity to bask in the limelight. They came out on the streets with their banners and flags, forcing taxi drivers to sing the national song.
It brought to mind an incident, nearly three years ago, when the issue was initially brought up. I was assigned the task of making a few Sena leaders sing the Vande Mataram and of the five I contacted, not even one could sing more than three lines.u00a0
During a conversation with a Muslim friend, we landed up discussing the issue of Vande Mataram. He was adamant that he would never sing the national song and his justification was that his religious leaders have told him the song was unu2013Islamic. After much prodding, he clarified that only the first two stanzas speak of the country whereas the others reek of idolu2013worship, a strict taboo in Islam. Though he was a bit confused, he added, "I am just following the diktats of the leaders as they know more about religion."
u00a0
Another friend of mine who refuses to sing Vande Mataram, clarified that he knows he loves his country and doesn't need to sign a song to prove it. His words touched a chord as I too believe that one cannot be made to love or hate the country by force. And I do not know when the conniving, misleading and deceiving leaders will comprehend this. But then they are misleading for a reason and at the risk of sounding clichu00e9d, one has to agree that, "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely." Though we may claim to be a secular country, we are actually nothing but pseudou2013seculars living in a makeu2013believe world, content with a placebo instead of actual democracy.
