A brief but noticeable incident occurred during the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar. At the beginning of the event, state anthem of Karnataka was played instead of “Vande Mataram.” The event took place on Wednesday in Bengaluru and created a surprise in the political limelight
The oath-taking ceremony was conducted at the Glass House in Lok Bhavan, where the Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot administered the oath of office and the oath of secrecy to Shivakumar. Senior leaders, legislators and officials and invited dignitaries were present on the occasion.
Vande Mataram Announced, but Sequence Goes Wrong
The program schedule announced, “Vande Mataram” was to be played by the master of ceremonies at the beginning. However, a mix-up caused the state anthem of Karnataka to start at that time, momentarily confusing all present.
Officials detected the mistake and came to the rescue, stopping the playing of the Karnataka anthem midway to avoid further deviation from the sequence. After a short pause, the programme resume and “Vande Mataram” was played as indicated, restoring the order of the ceremonial.
Short Briefing- Politics Plays on
Though the mistake in the order of national and state songs was corrected quickly and the programme proceeded smoothly thereafter, the mistake over protocol at a high-level ceremony has prompted the politics of protocol to be reignited, following a string of provocations.
Row over Tamil Thai Vaazhtu in Vijay’s oath
Karnataka incident comes in the middle of a parallel controversy in neighbouring Tamil Nadu over the order in which official songs are played during swearing-in ceremonies. During the Cabinet oath ceremony of Vijay, the Tamil state song ‘Tamil Thai Vaazhtu’ was sung at the end of the event instead of playing it beginning. The order of the protocol was ‘Vande Mataram’, which was followed by the national anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ after which a Tamil state song would be played. This move was met with objections from political parties.
The issue over the Tamil anthem materialised again when the Tamil anthem was again sung at the end of the ceremony when another set of ministers took oath, fueling objections from the opposition.
The organisers of that ceremony said that the sequence of the singing was done on the basis of circulars and the arrangements made by the authorities. The opposition alleged that the Tamil state song was not given its due precedence. The issue has now taken the shape of a larger issue in Tamil Nadu, about cultural respect and order of protocols, especially the position of a state song in an official ceremony, hence gravitating the sensitivity over the protocol of the anthem of the states.
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