No country allows that anybody should show disrespect. How it can be national symbol cannot be optional. PRAKASH JAVADEKAR (Spokesman, BJP Party): Optional is absurd. In his busy office in New Delhi, BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar brushes aside calls for singing to be optional. He eventually backtracked but the government's largest political opponent, the Hindu nationalist BJP Party, took up the issue. The latest controversy kicked off when an Indian government minister suddenly decided Vande Mataram should be sung by all the peoples in India's schools today to mark the centenary. I'm not supposed to because of my religion. REEVES: I'm not singing that song, says Faisal Ola, a Muslim student in New Delhi. FAISAL OLA(ph) (Resident): (Speaking Foreign Language) PHILIP REEVES: India has been arguing about the song Vande Mataram since before the age of the motorcar, now it's flared up again with a debate that touches on the country's most sensitive fault line - relations between its Hindus and Muslims. NPR's Philip Reeves reports from New Delhi. However, celebrations are being overshadowed by traditional conflicts between India's majority Hindus and minority Muslims. The Indian government has decided that today is Vande Mataram centenary. It's not India's national anthem, that's another song, though both songs have equal status. Across India today, they're singing Vande Mataram, that's India's national song.
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