Centre’s ‘Vande Mataram’ directive: Thousands protest in Nagaland
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Kohima: Thousands of students and citizens under the banner of the Naga Students' Federation (NSF) on Monday staged a rally here opposing the Centre's directive to the state government mandating the singing of Vande Mataram during official functions and in educational institutions, PTI reported.
Carrying placards reading "MHA's January 28 directive is an assault to secularism", "Naga rights are non-negotiable", "Stop forced policies", and "The directive is a direct attack on our faith," the rallyists marched from Kohima Town to Lok Bhavan.
The protesters submitted a memorandum addressed to President Droupadi Murmu through the Governor of Nagaland.
In the memorandum, the NSF expressed its strongest opposition to the directive mandating the playing or singing of Vande Mataram during official functions and directing its compulsory observance in educational institutions.
The NSF stated that while the Naga people respect the national symbols and cultural expressions of all communities, the imposition of any symbolic expression with religious connotations raises serious concerns regarding freedom of conscience.
The memorandum stated that the revised version of Vande Mataram contains devotional imagery associated with the worship of a particular deity, which the federation said conflicts with the religious and cultural sensitivities of the Naga people.
It maintained that educational institutions should remain spaces for intellectual freedom and democratic values rather than platforms for "enforcing symbolic compliance or ideological uniformity." Citing international legal frameworks such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the federation asserted that freedom of thought, conscience and religion must be upheld.
It also referred to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, stating that indigenous communities have the right to maintain their cultural institutions and traditions without external imposition.