In the video, Indore Mayor Malini Gaud, who is also a BJP lawmaker, is visible.
In a video clip that is being circulated on social media, members at a municipal corporation meeting start singing the national anthem, abruptly stop, then switch to "Vande Mataram", the national song. The incident at the Indore Municipal Corporation meet was blamed on a corporator's "a slip of tongue", but there is a demand now for action against members of the ruling BJP - which controls the body - for "insult" to the anthem.
In the video, Indore Mayor Malini Gaud, who is also a BJP lawmaker, is visible.
Members started singing "Jana Gana Mana" and after two lines, stopped. Then they started "Vande Mataram", which was sung till the end. All this took place as elected representatives and others gathered for the civic body's budget session.
Corporators belonging to the opposition parties have sought action for "insult" to the national anthem. When contacted, the corporation's chairman Ajay Singh Naruka said: "The mistake was possibly committed following a corporator's slip of the tongue. I don't feel it was due to anybody's ill-intention. So the incident should not be blown up unnecessarily."
He pointed out that usually, such sessions start with the national song and end with the national anthem.
Deliberately disrupting the national anthem or stopping its recital midway invites three years of imprisonment, an opposition corporator, however, said.