Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday refused to comment when asked why his party's MP Shafiqur Rahman Barq declined to say "Vande Mataram" in the Lok Sabha.
On being asked if there is an issue in saying the slogan, he said: "Nothing in this world holds more value than my motherland."
"The prime question is 'where is the country heading?'," he said while trying to evade the question asked by the media person.
Earlier in the day, slogans of Vande Mataram were raised in the Lok Sabha after Samajwadi Party MP Barq refused to say the slogan after taking an oath as the member of 17th Lok Sabha.
He said that "as far as Vande Mataram is concerned, it is against Islam and we cannot follow it.