BAREILLY: Members of BJP's youth wing, Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM) on Thursday protested against Sambhal MP
Shafiqur Rahman Barq for refusing to chant '
Vande Mataram' after taking oath as a member of
Lok Sabha. They also burnt an effigy of the
Samajwadi Party MP. Barq had said that chanting 'Vande Mataram', "is against Islam".
"While opposing to chant Vande Matram, citing Islam and Shariat, he showed his narrow mindset which is anti-India.
For him Sharia is more important than the Constitution", said Yuva Morcha’s district unit head Vishal Chauhan.
“It is not the first time when he insulted the slogan of freedom struggle. By making such remarks, he only wants to create a division in society while supporting people of fundamentalist mind. We demand the government to sack his membership as MP because such person who has reservation over chanting Vande Matram has no right to sit in the Parliament. If he has such a hatred for Vande Matram and our Constitution, he must go to Pakistan,” he further added.
Barq’s statement has drawn sharp protests from BJP members who demanded an apology in the matter. Barq in 2009, when he was a BSP MP, had left the House as soon as Vande Matram started.