Patna, Jan 25 (IANS) Union minister of state for HRD Upendra Kushwaha said Sunday that singing 'Vande Mataram' should not be forced on any one in the country.

"Vande Mataram should not be imposed on any one to sing and no one should be forced to sing it," Kushwaha, who is president of the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party, an ally of the BJP in Bihar, told media here following a dispute in a village school in Gopalganj district after some villagers banned the singing of Vande Mataram.

Kushwaha said that to sing or not to sing Vande Mataram should be left to people's own decision.

Early this month, Kushwaha had said that he was not in favour of any law to check conversions as there are already provisions to check coercion and allurement for conversion.