Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath on Monday announced that singing Vande Mataram will be made compulsory in schools and educational institutions in the state.

Vande Mataram was written in Sanskrit by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 1875 and is a popular patriotic song from India’s freedom movement.

Speaking at an Ekta Yatra or Unity March and a community recitation of Vande Mataram in Gorakhpur to mark the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Adityanath said the move would inspire “reverence and pride” among citizens towards Bharat Mata and the country, The Indian Express reported.

Bharat Mata is a personification of India as a mother goddess. The iconography is widely used by Hindu nationalists and is frequently criticised for propagating a Hindu-centric ima

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