New Delhi, Sep 8 (PTI) Controversies marred the centenary celebrations of Vande Mataram today with the BJP raking up the absence of Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a Congress-organised group singing while Muslim institutions in BJP-ruled states by and large defied the government directive for reciting the national song.

The BJP, which earlier made a big issue of HRD Minister Arjun Singh's decision to make the singing optional, today accused Gandhi of playing "vote bank and appeasement" politics by "consciously and deliberately" staying away from the function at the Seva Dal office adjoining the Congress headquarters.

Addressing the start of his party's national executive in Dehradun, BJP president Rajnath Singh dismissed health reasons given for Gandhi's absence.

However, Congress general secretary Ahmed Patel rejected the BJP's criticism, dissmissing it as an issue of no consequence. Defending Gandhi, he said, "It is not a big issue if somebody does not attend the function due to being unwell or for some other reasons." Madrasas in BJP-ruled Rajasthan and Gujarat defied the order on compulsory singing of the song and many seminaries in Rajasthan declared a holiday. In Lucknow, a large number of Muslim children recited the popular patriotic song 'Sare Jahan Se Achcha' instead of Vande Mataram at a function attended by prominent clerics.

Some madrasas in Madhya Pradesh, however, bucked the trend by organising the singing of Vande Mataram by children.

The BJP national executive meeting in Dehradun began its proceedings with group singing, while former prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee led the singing in the party headquarters in Delhi.