BSP MP who walked out of Vande Mataram sees no reason to apologise

When Speaker Meira Kumar lost her temper over an MP walking out of Parliament during the playing of the national song Vande Mataram, everyone wondered who it was. Now BSP MP Shafiq-ur-Rehman Burq has admitted he was the guilty MP, but says he sees no reason to apologise or explain why he showed disrespect to the song.

“I will not write any letter. Why should I write?” Burq told CNN-IBN when asked if he would write a letter to the Speaker explaining why he walked out while the song was playing.

And no, the  legislator also sees nothing wrong with what he did.

“Of course I did the right thing. I have not acted against the constitution. The status of the national song under the constitution is not the same as that accorded to the national anthem. I completely respect the national anthem. I honour the national anthem,” Burq said.

And despite the fact that it is the norm to play the national song when the Parliament is adjourned sine die, like it was done yesterday, the BSP member of Parliament countered that the sentiments of Muslim MPs needed to be taken into consideration as well.

“India is a democracy, there is secularism here. Under secularism when there are 30 crore Muslims living in the country you have to be considerate towards their emotions as well,” Burq said.

“I request that Muslims not be compelled to sing this song since it is against the Sharia.. the song tells people to bow before Bharat Mata,” he said.

Strangely enough, despite the opposition by some Muslim leaders to some of the words of the song, no other MP chose to express their opposition to the song in a similar manner.

However, Burq is no stranger to strange behaviour in Parliament when the occasion has demanded it. In the past, specifically December 2012, Burq waved a black flag in Parliament to protest against the Babri Masjid demolition.

Burq had earlier switched parties from the Samajwadi Party to the Bahujan Samaj Party to oppose the party’s alliance with former chief minister Kalyan Singh’s party. He also initially had a problem with the fact that the BSP’s slogan was ‘Jai Bhim’ but was placated once told that it wasn’t binding on all party members.