Following four straight days of constant headache to provide a majority to Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief C Joseph Vijay was sworn in as the ninth chief minister of Tamil Nadu. Thalapathy's swearing in was held at a grand event at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium of Chennai, which was attended by thousands of people.
However, one of the highlights of the event was that it commenced with national song 'Vande Mataram' and not with Tamil Nadu's official song 'Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu'. The ceremony started with the singing of all six stanzas of 'Vande Mataram', followed by national anthem 'Jana Gana Mana' and the state song.
This was in line with Union Home Ministry's January 28 directive that the original version of 'Vande Mataram', written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, must be sung completely before the national anthem at all official functions. The directive, though, had drawn sharp reaction from opposition parties. And co-incidentally, the playing of 'Vande Mataram' at Vijay's swearing in happened in presence of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who had vehemently criticised the government over its directive.
This move could be seen as a message to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had accused the Congress and former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of pandering to "communal agenda" for removing the stanzas of 'Vande Mataram' that hailed Goddess Durga. BJP's allegations had caused a massive political and invited sharp reactions from the grand old party and the Gandhis.
CPI objects to 'Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu' being played after 'Vande Mataram'
Meanwhile, the decision to play 'Vande Mataram' before 'Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu' at Vijay's swearing in has drawn criticism from the Communist Party of India (CPI). CPI state secretary M Veerapandian said the Tamil Nadu government must provide a public explanation identifying those responsible for this error.
"In this context, the decision, allegedly taken under the directives of Lok Bhavan, to accord the primary position to 'Vande Mataram' while placing the Tamil invocation third in the agenda of the swearing-in ceremony organised by the Tamil Nadu government constitutes a violation of established tradition," Veerapandian was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.
It is worth noting that the CPI is a part of TVK's coalition in Tamil Nadu. Vijay's party has 107 seats, and it depends on Congress, the CPI, the CPI(M), the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) for a simple majority in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.
The Congress has five MLAs, while the rest of the alliance partners have two legislators each.
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