Home Minister P. Chidambaram Wednesday clarified that he was not aware that a resolution had been passed against the national song 'Vande Mataram' by Muslim clerics at a gathering at Deoband attended by him.
“The minister was at the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind conference at Deoband Nov 3 between 10 a.m. and 12 noon. No resolution was passed during that period. When he spoke, he was not aware of any resolution relating to Vande Mataram or women's reservation or cinema and television,” Chidambaram's personal secretary M.A. Siddique said in a statement.
“Besides, Chidambaram was reading from a prepared text and there was no occasion to depart from that text,” Siddique added.
The minister's comments followed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi's criticism of Chidambaram for not speaking against the 'Vande Mataram' resolution.
Among the 25 resolutions passed at the convention was one reiterating the clerics' opposition to reciting 'Vande Mataram' due to its religious overtones.