Withdraw Vande Mataram Directive Immediately

Hakikul Islam, State President of the Social Democratic Party of India, West Bengal, strongly condemned the decision of the BJP government in West Bengal, led by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, to impose the compulsory singing of “Vande Mataram” in schools and madrassas across the state. He stated that the directive is an unnecessary and provocative intervention into educational and religious spaces, particularly targeting minority institutions under the guise of nationalism. Patriotism, he said, cannot be imposed through coercion, nor can constitutional freedoms be sacrificed for political symbolism.

Hakikul Islam further stated that the mandatory enforcement of any song carrying historical and religious sensitivities violates the spirit of India’s secular Constitution and undermines democratic diversity. He demanded that the government immediately withdraw the order and refrain from using educational institutions as platforms for ideological polarisation and majoritarian politics.