Many Muslim clerics in Uttar Pradesh have appealed to the community members across the country to "mark the day (Independence Day) as patriots but refrain from singing the national anthem or record videos as they are against Islam".
This comes a day after Uttar Pradesh government had asked the madrassas (Islamic schools) to conduct Independence Day celebrations and record the same in video.
Uttar Pradesh minority welfare minister Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary had made the announcement as it will inspire students to learn more about India's freedom struggle. They can treasure these memories in the form of photographs which can be inspirational for others, he said.
Tagore wrote the national anthem in praise of the then British King George V, Bareilly shehr qazi Maulana Asjad Raza Khan told the Times of India.
He further explained that according to Islam, their 'adhinayak' is God and not George and that they do not disrespect national anthem but can't sing it due to religious sentiments.
Back in July 2015, even Rajasthan governor Kalyan Singh had raised an objection to the national anthem.
During the 26th convocation of Rajasthan University, he said that Tagore while writing the national anthem had praised the English ruler by writing 'adhinayak jaya hai' and had said that the phrase should be replaced by 'jan gan man mangal gaye'.
Whereas, Maulana Asjad Raza Khan further said that photography and videography were un-Islamic and it would be flouting the sharia taught to the kids in madrassas.
Reports say that Khan appealed to the managers of madrassas to hoist the national flag and sing 'Saare jahans e achha Hindustan humara' and celebrate by distributing sweets and remembering the freedom fighters for their sacrifices.
Choudhary said that every citizen born in India celebrates different festivals but national festivals are celebrated by the entire nation. And madrassas should not exclude themselves from taking part. Currently, around 8,000 madrasas in UP are recognised by the government body UP Madrassa Shiksha Parishad. Among these, 560 are fully aided by the state.
