Congress' appeasement policy led to partition: Amit Shah
Kolkata, June 27: BJP President Amit Shah on Wednesday said the country's partition could have been avoided if the Congress had not made the mistake of censoring part of the national song "Vande Mataram..." in line with its "appeasement policy".
"Had the Congress not made the mistake of censoring the national song Vande Mataram to just stanzas instead of the whole song ... we could have stopped India from getting divided," Shah said here while delivering the first Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay Memorial Lecture organised by Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation.
He described Vande Mataram as a manifestation of the century-old tradition of nationalism, and stressed that the song could not be associated with any religion.
"Vande Mataram is a manifestation of our century-old tradition of nationalism. India is not a geo-political nation, it is a geo-cultural nation. The definition of India's nationalism is not narrow.
"It can't be associated with any form of religion. But Congress brought religion into it by censoring the song, It was a part of the Congress' appeasement policy," he said.
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Efforts of party cadres will be rewarded on May 4: DMK chief Stalin
Chennai (PTI): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday said that the efforts made by his party cadres during the Assembly elections would be rewarded on May 4.
The counting of votes for the Assembly elections held on April 23 will be taken up on May 4.
"We are set to reap the rewards of the hard work put in by our party cadres on the coming fourth (May 4 counting day). There is absolutely no change in this and not even the slightest deviation," Stalin said at a May Day event here.
"There is no need for anyone to assume that I am speaking merely on the basis of exit polls," he added.
Stalin, who is also DMK chief, said that "good news" would come for those eagerly waiting for the election results.
Stating that the DMK governance is based on philosophy and principles, Stalin said, "This will continue."
He recalled the pivotal role of the then Chief Minister C N Annadurai, who first declared May Day as a government holiday, and subsequently, late CM M Karunanidhi, who was instrumental in extending it as a paid holiday across the nation.
"Responding to the request of Kalaingnar (Karunanidhi), the then Prime Minister V P Singh accepted the plea and declared it (May 1) a paid government holiday not merely for Tamil Nadu, but for the entire nation," Stalin said.
