Video: MIM, BJP, Shiv Sena corporators clash over ‘Vande Mataram’ in Aurangabad

AURANGABAD: Ruling Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party corporators created a ruckus after the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) corporators refused to stand up when ‘Vande Mataram’ was sung at the start of the day’s proceedings in the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation on Saturday.

Protesting against this, the Shiv Sena and BJP corporators rushed to the well of the house and raised loud slogans against the AIMIM duo who remained seated when the song was being rendered.

The two corporators of a Hyderabad-based AIMIM party led by Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi were suspended by the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation for 15 days after they refused to stand up when the national song was being played.

This quickly degenerated into a slanging match between the ruling and the Opposition corporators with fisticuffs, yanking off of microphones from tables, breaking fans and damaging under furniture and fittings in the assembly hall.

There were no reports of anyone getting injured in the melee.

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Some of the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance corporators strongly objected as the AIMIM corporators remained seated during ‘Vande Mataram’ and raised slogans of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, and “If you want to live in this country, you will have to sing ‘Vande Mataram‘,” and flung their shawls around in the hall.

Amid the continuing fracas, AMC Mayor Bhagwandas Ghadamode (BJP) adjourned the proceedings twice and announced the suspension of the two AIMIM corporators for a day, before adjourning the house for the day.

AIMIM MLA Imtiaz Jaleel said there is no law mandating people must stand up during the singing of ‘Vande Mataram’, though it is a tradition that is respected.

“However, we are very clear that whenever ‘Vande Mataram’ is rendered we must stand up,” Jaleel said, adding he would seeks details of the incidents in the AMC house from his party corporators.

“We have 25 corporators in the AMC and 24 of them stood up when the song was played. For the last two-and-a-half years, our corporators have always stood up whenever the national song was played at general body meetings,” he added.

Jaleel described the entire episode as a “drama staged by the ruling alliance to skirt a discussion on the important issues” of this central Maharashtra city.

The AIMIM is the largest Opposition party with 25 corporators while the ruling Shiv Sena has 29 and the BJP 22.

The other Opposition parties include eight from the Congress, three of the Nationalist Congress Party and 24 independents/others in the 113-member AMC house.

With IANS/ PTI inputs