The Madras High Court on Tuesday made the singing of Vande Mataram in all schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions in Tamil Nadu mandatory to instill a sense of patriotism in each and every citizen of the State.

Justice MV Muralidaran also directed the government to ensure that the song is played or sung in all its offices and institutions, private companies, factories and industries at least once a month.

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The judge’s order on the national song has no relevance to the petition before his court which he was disposing of K Veeramani, an unsuccessful aspirant for a teacher’s post, had approached the court to ascertain whether Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote Vande Mataram in Bengali or Sanskrit.

He failed to make the grade by one mark because he wrote the poem was written in Bengal,i while the examiner held it was written in Sanskrit with a sprinkling of Bengali words.

Taking the middle path, the Advocate-General clarified the song was of Sanskrit origin, but written in Bengali. While directing the Teachers Recruitment Board to give one mark to Veeramani so that he becomes eligible for a teacher’s post, the judgment focused on the importance of patriotism and expressed the hope it would be taken in the right spirit and implemented in letter and spirit by the Tamil Nadu government.

If the people of Tamil Nadu found it difficult to sing Vande Mataram in Bengali or Sanskrit, steps could be taken to translate the song in Tamil and English, the court ruled, and directed the Information and Public Relations Department to upload the translated versions on the government website and social media.

If any person or organisation had difficulty in singing or playing the song, the judge observed, they should not be compelled or forced to sing it provided there were valid reasons for doing so. He did not spell out what constituted “valid reasons.”

This opens up the possibility of violence against those who do not wish to sing Vande Mataram for reasons of their own. The Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath has already questioned the propriety of the High Court order on compulsory singing of the song.

They consider it against their religious beliefs. When there was no plea for singing Vande Mataram in Veeramani’s petition, what prompted Justice Muralidaran to come out with such a directive is the question agitating the minds of many people.

Tamil Nadu has been free of the communal virus that has afflicted many of the States of India and the people of the state do not want to fall victim to it.

Already the Supreme Court order of November last making it mandatory to play the national anthem in cinema houses has led to incidents of people being roughed up for not standing up during the anthem.

Now the Madras High Court has added one more edict which has the potential to disturb the prevailing communal harmony in Tamil Nadu.