New Delhi: The Winter Session of Parliament is ongoing and, on the sixth day on Monday, both Houses were allotted time for a lengthy discussion on the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram. Prime Minister
Narendra Modi opened the discussion in the Lok Sabha.
PM Modi traced the journey of the national song through colonial rule, the freedom movement and the Emergency, underlining its enduring role in shaping India’s national consciousness. The Prime Minister also alleged that the national song had faced repeated opposition and neglect during critical moments in India’s past.
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi claimed that the debate on Vande Mataram is taking place because the West Bengal polls are near and the government wants to divert attention from the real issues of the public.
“We are having a debate on Vande Mataram as West Bengal polls are coming. They want to divert attention from the real issues of public,” Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi said in the House.
Gandhi also said that her party prioritises the nation over political gains.
Responds To PM Modi's Remarks On Nehru
Gandhi also alleged that the government is trying to level more accusations against those who fought for India’s freedom and made sacrifices for the nation. Gandhi was referring to PM Modi's remarks on India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
“Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru wrote a letter to Subhash Chandra Bose after Jinnah’s opposition to Vande Mataram, stating that he had read the background of Vande Mataram and thought it might provoke and irritate Muslims. He added that they would examine the use of Vande Mataram, and that too in Bankim Chandra’s Bengal,” PM Modi said in his address.
Gandhi also cited a letter written by Jawaharlal Nehru to Subhas Chandra Bose during the Lok Sabha debate on Vande Mataram and responded to the claims by PM Modi. She read from the letter in which Nehru stated, “there is no doubt that the present outcry on Vande Mataram is to a large extent manufactured one by the communalists, whatever we do, we cannot pander to communalists’ feelings.”
Gandhi alleged that PM Modi had read the letter selectively, presenting it incompletely in his speech.
