The Shiv Sena on Thursday flayed the government for its apathy to Vande Mataram, the national song, declaring that people who have hesitation in singing it have no right to stay in this country.
"It is only in this country that the national song is treated with so much disdain and apathy," the party said in its mouthpiece Saamna.
An editorial in the Sena publication said, "Some political leaders think singing the national song is a sin or an offence. They feel it would hurt the unity and secular fabric of the country. But Vande Mataram was an inspirational song for the freedom fighters, who laid down their lives fighting the British, with the battle cry of this song on their lips."
The editorial further said that Vande Mataram was a national song which eulogised the motherland and those who have apathy towards it have no right to stay in this country.
The editorial has come in the wake of the failure of the state cabinet to hold a discussion on a proposal to make singing of Vande Mataram compulsory in schools in Maharashtra.
The discussion on a proposal, to make singing of the national song compulsory, could not take place following the absence of Maharashtra Education Minister Vasant Purke, who had mooted the proposal.