Bihar: Muslim teacher claims he was beaten up for not singing Vande Mataram on Republic Day
Afzal Hussain, who teaches in a primary school in Katihar district, said singing the national song was against his religious beliefs.
Residents of Abdullahpur in Bihar’s Katihar district allegedly beat up a Muslim man after he refused to sing Vande Mataram on Republic Day.
Primary schoolteacher Afzal Hussain told ANI that singing Vande Mataram was against his religious beliefs. “We worship Allah and Vande Mataram means ‘vandana [worship]’ of Bharat, which is against our belief,” he said. “The Constitution doesn’t say it is necessary to sing it.”
Hussain, who was allegedly pushed around and hit by residents, claimed he could have been killed, NDTV reported.
State Education Minister KN Prasad seemed to back the suspsected attackers. “Action will be taken if an incident of this sort has taken place,” he said. “An insult to the national song is not forgivable.”
District education officer Dinesh Chandra Dev said he has not received any complaint about the alleged incident, the Hindustan Times reported. “Had we got any such information, an investigation would have been done,” he said. “But till now we have not got any such complaint.”