New Delhi, Aug 30 (IANS) The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday said its minority cell has given up its decision to sing Vande Mataram in the parliament compound after they were denied permission for it.

"The permission is not forthcoming," BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters here.

The party's minority wing had sought permission from Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee for reciting the national song in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue in the parliament complex Sep 7.

Prasad said the programme in which 200-odd Muslims were expected to sing the national song would now be a part of the party's nationwide celebration of the centenary year of the Vande Mataram on Sep 7.

Vande Mataram has become a major political issue after a section of Muslims objected to its singing on Sep 7 in schools to mark the centenary of the song's recitation at the Indian National Congress' Calcutta Session, where it was adapted as the national song.

BJP president Rajnath Singh has instructed the chief ministers of all five party-ruled states to make singing of Vande Mataram mandatory in all educational institutions.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh had announced that singing of the song would be mandatory in all educational institutions of the state on Sep 7, including madrassas.