MADRAS: Government would not ban the singing of Bande Mataram song in schools, said the Education Minister, Mr. T.S. Avinasilingham Chettiar, replying to a question by a Muslim Leaguer in the Madras Assembly this afternoon [March 291. ...[T]he Minister said that he was aware that some Muslims objected to the song on religious and sentimental grounds. But so far as he knew, there was no religious significance in the song to hurt Muslim feelings.

To a question whether Government would stop the song to conciliate the Muslim minority who strongly objected to it, the Minister said that Government would not force the song on anybody, but at the same time they would not place a ban... . They could not wound the susceptibilities of 95 per cent of the population by banning the song to placate the wishes of five per cent. ...[T]he Minister said ... those who were opposed to the song were free to absent themselves when it was sung. Dawn Delhi