The unsavoury incident that took place in Meerut Municipal Corporation over the singing of national song, Vande Mataram, by councillors makes all of us hang our heads in shame. A section of councillors refused to sing the song and stayed away from the meeting, citing religious reasons. It is really surprising that people who live in India are openly opposing Vande Mataram, the song that fired up several generations of Indians during the freedom movement. Such persons should emulate revolutionaries like Ashfaqullah Khan and Ghaus Khan who chanted Vande Mataram during the freedom struggle. Param Vir Chakra awardee Abdul Hamid laid his life for the nation during the 1965 War. Were they not Indians? Actually, the majority of Muslims have no objection to the song Vande Mataram, per se, but some of their leaders are indulging in vote bank politics. The Meerut civic body polls are due after four months, and Vande Mataram is being leveraged as an issue to polarize the voters. The sorry part is that the Samajwadi Party is yet to learn its lessons from the UP assembly poll rout. What Muslims really need are education, employment and a better life. Raking up religious issues will not benefit anybody in the least.