Muzaffarnagar: Madrassas in Deoband, the town that houses the renowned Islamic seminary Darul Uloom, will mark Republic Day like all other educational institutes in the country, but with a rider. There will be no recital of Vande Mataram or ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ slogans. Instead, they will shout ‘Hindustan Zindabad’, clerics in the town said.

“We are 100% patriot and will celebrate Republic Day. We

, unfurl the tri-colour and will shout ‘Hindustan Zindabad’. But, we are not going to sing Vande Mataram nor are we going to shout Bharat Mata ki Jai,” said Tarik Qasmi, a prominent cleric in Deoband.

Qasmi said, “My religion does not permit to worship anybody other than Allah. That’s why we are opposed to singing Vande Mataram (which means ‘I bow to you, mother’). And it is not the only way to show our patriotism.”

Notably, in 2009, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind had asked Muslims not to sing Vande Mataram.

Qari Mustafa, another independent cleric, said, “There are other slogans also like Jai Hind, Jai Bharat, Sare Jahan Se Achcha Hindustan Hamara etc which we love to say. Certain vested interests are bent on proving us anti-nationals and that’s why they raise the issue of Vande Mataram.”

In February 2017, the Supreme Court had declined to entertain a plea by a BJP spokesperson to direct the Centre to frame a national policy to promote Vande Mataram, saying that there is no concept of a national song. A bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra had said that Article 51A of the Constitution requires to promote and propagate the National Anthem and the National Flag. “The Article does not refer to a National Song,” the bench had ruled.