Thiruvananthapuram | Keralam Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Wednesday said the state government would follow the prescribed Central protocol when the President, Vice-President or Prime Minister attends a government function, while reiterating his party's position on the recitation of Vande Mataram.
Responding to a question about the controversy over the full recitation of the national song at the recent valedictory function of the week-long Onam celebrations attended by Vice-President C P Radhakrishnan and Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar here, Satheesan said the state government could not reject the central protocol applicable to such programmes.
"When the President, Vice-President or Prime Minister attends a programme, the protocol is decided by the Centre. The state government does not have the authority to reject that protocol," he said.
Satheesan said the Congress, which leads the UDF government in Keralam, had taken a clear decision that only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram would be sung at party programmes and other programmes organised by it.
"However, when the President, Vice-President or Prime Minister attends a state government programme, it is the Central protocol that applies, and the programme will be conducted accordingly," he said.
There was nothing wrong in inviting the Vice-President to a state government function.
"Can we not invite the Vice-President. We will invite the President, Vice-President and Prime Minister of India to state government programmes. There is no doubt about that," Satheesan said.
He also clarified that there had been no rendition of Vande Mataram during the state government programme at any place on August 15 and said events attended by constitutional authorities were being conducted across the country according to the prescribed protocol.
The chief minister's remarks came amid strong protests by the opposition CPI(M) against the Congress-led UDF government over the rendition of the full version of Vande Mataram, accusing it of yielding to the RSS agenda.
The Students' Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of the CPI(M), on Tuesday took out a protest march to Kerala University here against the rendition of the full version of Vande Mataram during National Sports Day celebrations held at the varsity.
Police used water cannons and resorted to lathi charge to disperse the protesters, leaving a few students injured and drawing strong criticism from senior CPI(M) leaders
