Won't stand up to Vande Mataram'

Lucknow: Furor was witnessed in Meerut and Aligarh during the swearing –in ceremony of newly elected Mayors and councilors when the BSP mayors opposed the singing of Vande Mataram.

The mayor of Meerut Sunita Varma and the Mayor of Aligarh Mohd Furqan refused to stand up when the Vande Mataram was being played.

The BSP mayors had already voiced their opposition to the playing of the national song in the house.

Meerut mayor Sunita Varma, a week ago, had evoked the order which makes Vande Mataram mandatory at every board meeting.

 In Aligarh, SP and BSP councilors also protested against the playing of Vande Mataram at the swearing in ceremony. The newly elected councilors did not stand up while the national song was being played. A Muslim councilor Musharraf took his oath in Urdu and BJP leaders demanded FIR against him.

Later, BJP workers pelted stones at the car of the mayor and the police had to escort him to safety.

A similar scene was seen in Meerut where BJP leaders shouted slogans against the behavior of the mayor and her party councilors.

The posters of the mayor were also torn up in protest and the swearing in function was held amidst tight security.

In Ayodhya, the SP councilors refused to take oath of office on Tuesday, accusing the state government of ‘saffronizing the event’.

The councilors alleged that the swearing in of the first Ayodhya-Faizabad municipal corporation should have been held in the office of the municipal corporation in Faizabad and not the Ram Katha Park in Ayodhya.

 In Allahabad too, some SP and independent councilors boycotted the swearing in ceremony and accused the BJP of using the event to make a political statement.