New Delhi [India], December 9 (ANI): The discussion on 150 years of National Song Vande Mataram in Lok Sabha on Monday saw leaders from various political parties highlighting the role played by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s composition in the freedom struggle with BJP and opposition members also taking potshots at each other.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated the debate and said Vande Mataram energised our freedom movement.
“It is a matter of pride for all of us that we are witnessing 150 years of Vande Mataram. Vande Mataram is the force that drives us to achieve the dreams our freedom fighters envisioned. Vande Mataram rekindled an idea deeply rooted in India for thousands of years” he said.
“Vande Mataram also contained the cultural energy of thousands of years, it also had the fervour for freedom and the vision of an independent India. The deep connection of Vande Mataram with the people reflects the journey of our freedom movement. Vande Mataram gave strength and direction to our freedom movement,” he added.
The Prime Minister said Vande Mataram was the all-encompassing mantra that inspired freedom, sacrifice, strength, purity, dedication, and resilience.
He said Vande Mataram which Mahatma Gandhi had seen as the national anthem in 1905, and which was a source of immense strength for every Indian, both within the country and abroad, later suffered grave injustice in the last century.
He questioned why such betrayal occurred with Vande Mataram, why such injustice was done, and which forces were so powerful that they overshadowed even the sentiments of revered Bapu, dragging this sacred inspiration into controversy.
“As we celebrate 150 years of Vande Mataram, it is our duty to inform the new generations about the circumstances that led to this betrayal,” he said.
PM Modi highlighted that the Muslim League’s politics of opposition to Vande Mataram was intensifying, and Mohammed Ali Jinnah raised a slogan against Vande Mataram from Lucknow on October 15, 1937. The Prime Minister stated that instead of firmly countering the baseless statements of the Muslim League and condemning them, Jawaharlal Nehru, then Congress President did not reaffirm his and the Indian National Congress (INC) Party’s commitment to Vande Mataram and began questioning Vande Mataram itself.
He recalled that just five days after Jinnah’s opposition, on October 20, 1937, Nehru wrote a letter to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, agreeing with Jinnah’s sentiment and stating that the ‘Anand Math’ background of Vande Mataram could irritate Muslims. The Prime Minister quoted Nehru’s words: “I have read the background of the Vande Mataram song. I feel that this background may provoke Muslims.”
The Prime Minister remarked that following this, a statement came from the Indian National Congress that Congress Working Committee would meet in Kolkata on October 26, 1937, to review the use of Vande Mataram. He highlighted that it was Bankim Babu’s Bengal, Bankim Babu’s Kolkata, that was chosen for this review.
The Prime Minister stated that the entire nation was stunned and shocked, and patriots across the country opposed the proposal by organizing morning processions and singing Vande Mataram. He emphasized that unfortunately, on October 26, 1937, Congress compromised on Vande Mataram, fragmenting it in their decision. He noted that this decision was cloaked under the guise of social harmony, but history bears witness that Congress bowed before the Muslim League and acted under its pressure, “adopting politics of appeasement”.
He alleged that Congress bent for the division of Vande Mataram, and later had to bend for the partition of India.
PM Modi alleged the Congress had outsourced its decisions, and its policies remain unchanged.
The Prime Minister criticized the opposition “for resorting to appeasement politics” and continued attempts to create controversies around Vande Mataram.
He remarked that the true character of any nation is revealed not in its good times but during periods of challenge and crisis, when it is tested and proven on the touchstone of resilience, strength, and capability. He highlighted that after independence in 1947, while the country’s challenges and priorities changed, the spirit and life force of the nation remained the same.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra countered PM Modi and accused him of “selectively” presenting the facts.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivers good speeches, but he is weak when it comes to facts. The way Modi ji presents facts before the public is his art. But I am a representative of the people–I am not an artist,” she said.
She said PM had not properly contextualised former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s letter to Subhash Chandra Bose on Vande Matram and had not given all related facts.
“In every session of the Congress, Vande Mataram is sung collectively. The question is: Is Vande Mataram sung in BJP-RSS sessions or not? By making this great mantra of the nation’s soul controversial, the BJP is committing a sin, but the Congress party will not be part of this sin. This national song ‘Vande Mataram’ has always been dear to us, has always been sacred to us, and will always remain sacred to us,” Priyanka Gandhi said.
“PM Modi said that in 1896, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore sang this song for the first time in a convention, but he did not tell which session it was. Was it a session of the Hindu Mahasabha or RSS? Why was he hesitant to say that it was Congress’s session?” she asked.
Priyanka Gandhi said the Modi government wants to divert the country’s attention from essential public issues and asked for the rationale for debating the National Song, which people deeply revere.
“There are two reasons for the debate on Vande Mataram in the House today. One, elections are coming up in West Bengal. In such a situation, our Prime Minister wants to establish his role, and second, those who fought the freedom struggle and sacrificed for the country–this government wants an opportunity to level new accusations against them. By doing this, the government wants to divert the country’s attention from the essential issues concerning the public,” Priyanka Gandhi said.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also targeted Congress in his speech and accused it of “fragmentation” of Vande Mataram and appeasement politics.
He said that the National Anthem found a place in the national consciousness, but the National Song was “marginalised.”
“Today, it has to be accepted that the justice that should have been done to Vande Mataram did not happen. National Anthem and National Song were to be given an equal place, but one found a place in the national consciousness, while the other was marginalised. It was treated like an extra. In 1937, Congress decided to fragment on the same land where Vande Mataram was composed. This was not an injustice to a song, but to the people of independent India,” he alleged.
He said Congress should “leave mentality of slavery” and “should accept Vande Mataram in its full form”.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the ruling party of trying to “own everything and make their own for political gain”.
Yadav said the song’s legacy was far greater than the political narratives being pushed today, asserting that Vande Mataram belonged to the freedom struggle and to the people of India, not to any political party. “The people in the ruling party today want to claim everything as their own,” he said.
The discussion on 150 years of Vande Mataram lasted almost till midmight with a large number of members expressing their views during the nearly 12 hour debate. (ANI)
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