No discrimination, law of land has to be followed: Min

Kolkata: A day after Vande Mataram was made mandatory for students at madrasas, and the decision drew criticism from several sections, Bengal BJP leaders and ministers argued that the law of the land had to be followed.State's municipal affairs minister Agnimitra Paul (pic below) on Friday said that one can go to court, but the law of the land has to be followed if the person resides in India. "One has to follow the law of the land. You can't say that I am a Muslim and I will not worship Bharat Maa. I will not follow the law of the land," Paul said.While several organisations have opposed making Vande Mataram mandatory at schools, Paul said that one can move the court if he/she was not happy with the decision of the state govt. "Of course you can go to court and you have the authority. But if you are in Bharat or West Bengal, you have to follow the law of the land," she said.Describing Vande Mataram as an adulation of the nation as the mother, she said: "Vande Mataram is a worship of the country. It is a Vandana (prayer) to the country, which is like our mother. We call Bharat our mother. If you can worship your mother, why can't you worship the country? Our mother land has fed us and protected us all these years," Paul said.Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya, on the other hand, said that the song was truncated as a result of appeasement politics. "Muhammad Ali Jinnah had earlier announced that if Vande Mataram is sung, Muslim League will not be part of that. Congress had given up before the pressure of the Muslim League. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was not in favour of that. That paved the way for partition of Bengal," he said.