NEW DELHI, Sept 7: Politicians and millions of school children sang out Thursday to celebrate the 100th anniversary of a controversial national song which has split Hindu and Muslim leaders. Another agency reported that Sikhs joined the dissent.

The Congress party-led government had asked schools to voluntarily mark the centenary of the adoption of “Vande Mataram — “I bow to you, mother” — as the national song by having children countrywide sing the verses.

But the main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ordered compulsory singing in five states under its rule, angering Muslims who say the song, which worships India as a goddess, goes against their religion.

On Thursday, BJP party leaders were at the centre of the celebrations in a show of support for the song. But some drew a blank when asked on private news network CNN-IBN what the verses meant. Others did not know the verses at all.

The song’s title was the slogan used during India’s independence movement against British colonial rule and is separate from the national anthem.

In the most populous state Uttar Pradesh, Muslim leaders and students assembled in the capital Lucknow to sing another popular song in praise of India, “Sare jahan se achha Hindustan hamara”.

“Singing ‘Vande Mataram’ is against our religion. But we don’t want to be seen as unpatriotic so we sang this song which has the same spirit and flavour,” said cleric Khalid Rashid.

In the industrial city of Kanpur, tens of thousands of children stayed away from schools after the administration ordered them to shut because of threats by some Hindu nationalist organisations to enforce the order.

In the BJP-ruled Rajasthan state where the singing was compulsory, many Islamic schools remained shut amid celebrations which were held under tight security.

But in central Madhya Pradesh state — also under BJP rule — students from more than 5,000 Islamic schools joined in the festivities.

“The national song was sung in about 5300 madrasas (Islamic schools), where 275,000 students were enrolled,” S.K. Muddin, the state’s Madrasa Board Chairman told the United News of India.

Muddin said the song was translated from ancient Sanskrit language to Urdu, which is the main language in many Islamic schools, to make it easier for students to sing the verses.

“Vande Mataram” was a popular favourite to be the national anthem when India became independent in 1947 but it lost out to Jana Gana Mana — The Minds of All the People — because of religious objections at the time.—AFP