A Muslim teacher in Bihar’s Katihar district was beaten up after he refused to sing national song ‘Vande Mataram’ at a Republic Day event at a primary school in Abdullahpur. The incident took place on Wednesday. ANI reported that the teacher was beaten up by the locals for not signing the national song on January 26.
Justifying his decision, Hussain said that singing Vande Mataram is against his religious belief. “We worship Allah and Vande Mataram means ‘vandana’ (worship) of Bharat which is against our belief. Constitution doesn’t say it’s necessary to sing it,” Hussain said.
The video of the incident has now gone viral on social media platforms.
District Education Officer Dinesh Chandra Dev said that he has not received any complaint regarding the incident so far. “Had we got any such information, an investigation would have been done. But till now we have not got any such complaint,” the official said.
Meanwhile, Bihar Education Minister KN Prasad has assured that action will be taken if an incident of this sort has occurred. “Insult of national song is not forgivable at all,” the minister said.