The opening day of the monsoon session of the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha on Friday was washed out amid an uproar over the singing of the National Song, Vande Mataram. The House was adjourned for the day within 11 minutes of the beginning of the proceedings.

The session began with the National Anthem, after which BJP MLA Vipin Singh Parmar demanded that Vande Mataram should be sung and sought permission from Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania to raise the issue.

Parmar also accused the Congress of “insulting” the National Song by deciding to sing only two stanzas of Vande Mataram at its events. He said the Centre has enacted a new law making it mandatory to sing the full version of the National Song first whenever Vande Matram and the National Anthem are performed together.

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Pathania, who was about to read the obituary references, said that the provision concerning the singing of the National Song has been introduced by the Centre for government events and did not directly apply to the proceedings of the Vidhan Sabha. Citing convention, he said it was a long-standing practice that House proceedings begin with the National Anthem, while the National Song is sung at the conclusion of the session. Parmar further said that in keeping with the tradition, Assembly sessions will begin with Jana Gana Mana and conclude with Vande Mataram.

Urging the Opposition to cooperate, he said that the first day is reserved for obituary references and paying tribute to departed members and assured that the full version of Vande Mataram would be sung at the conclusion of the session.

The explanation, however, failed to cut ice with the Opposition members who started raising slogans against the ruling Congress. From treasury benches, Congress MLA Kewal Singh attacked the Opposition. He, along with other Congress members raised slogans against the BJP and accused the Opposition of disrespecting the National Anthem. Amid the face-off, the Speaker adjourned the House for the day.

Outside the House, Congress leaders, including Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Cabinet ministers Rajesh Dharmani, Vikramaditya Singh, state Congress chief Vinay Kumar, raised slogans against the BJP.

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Sukhu alleged that the BJP MLAs insulted the National Anthem by raising objections regarding the tradition of singing it before the National Song. He said a controversy over the national song is being “manufactured” and it has caused resentment among the public. He urged the BJP not to “stoop to such a low level of politics” that the issue of respecting national symbols becomes a subject of political confrontation. He also accused the BJP of blowing the National Song controversy out of proportion to divert public attention from issues like inflation, NEET paper leak, corruption, and increase in sugar prices.

Meanwhile, Pathania said, “The House is supreme. The Vidhan Sabha runs as per convention. Today was the first day of the monsoon session. As per the set precedent and convention, the obituaries of legislators who have passed away are read. The Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha function as per their respective rules. In the Lok Sabha too, the National Anthem is sung first; the same convention will be followed here… the House is not bound to any authority.”