Vande Mataram: No resolution passed before me, PC

New Delhi, Nov 4 (PTI) Countering BJP's criticism, Union
Home Minister of India P Chidambaram Wednesday said he was not
present when the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind adopted a resolution in
Deoband Tuesday asking Muslims not to recite 'Vande Mataram'.

"Home Minister P Chidambaram was at the JUH conference
at Deoband on November 3 between 10 am and 12 noon. No
resolution was passed during that period. When he spoke, he
was not aware of any resolution relating to Vande Mataram or
women's reservation and television," a statement issued by his
office said.
Besides, the Home Minister was reading from a prepared
text and there was no occasion to depart from that text, the
statement said reacting to criticism by BJP leader Mukhtar
Abbas Naqvi, who had said Chidambaram's presence at the
programme "gave legitimacy to the resolution...it is a
matter of concern."
In the resolution, the Jamiat had asked members of the
community not to recite 'Vande Mataram' on the ground that
some verses of the national song are against the tenets of
Islam.
The Jamiat's opposition to the recitation of the song
came when it supported seminary Darul Uloom's 'fatwa' (edict)
which opposes any prayer involving the song. PTI ACB