Himachal House adjourned on opening day after Vande Mataram row

The opening day of the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha's monsoon session was adjourned within 11 minutes on Friday amid a heated confrontation between the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP over the singing of the National Song, Vande Mataram.

The proceedings began with the National Anthem, after which BJP MLA Vipin Singh Parmar raised the issue of singing Vande Mataram. He accused the Congress of insulting the National Song by singing only two stanzas at its events and pointed to a new central law mandating the full version of the song when performed alongside the National Anthem.

Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania responded that the central provision applies to government events and not to the internal proceedings of the Vidhan Sabha. He cited the long-standing convention of beginning House sessions with the National Anthem and concluding them with Vande Mataram. He assured the Opposition that the full version would be sung at the end of the session and urged cooperation, noting that the first day is reserved for obituary references.

The explanation failed to pacify the Opposition, which raised slogans against the ruling party. Congress MLA Kewal Singh retaliated from the treasury benches, accusing the BJP of disrespecting the National Anthem. With both sides trading slogans, the Speaker adjourned the House for the day.

Outside the Assembly, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and other Congress leaders alleged that the BJP had insulted the National Anthem by objecting to the established practice. Sukhu said the controversy was being manufactured to divert attention from issues like inflation, the NEET paper leak, and corruption.

Speaker Pathania later defended the decision, stating that the House is supreme and functions according to its own conventions, similar to the Lok Sabha, where the National Anthem is sung first.