Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday, August 16, launched a sharp attack on the Congress over the Vande Mataram row, accusing the party of insulting
the national song and demanding an apology - both to the people of the country and to Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, who wrote it. Shah's remarks come a day after a video showing Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and party President Mallikarjun Kharge gesturing during the full rendition of 'Vande Mataram' at the party's Independence Day celebrations in Delhi went viral. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh had rejected the charge, insisting the full version of the song was sung without interruption. Addressing a public meeting in Chittorgarh, Shah alleged that during the Independence Day programme at the Congress headquarters, party leader Sonia Gandhi asked Vande Mataram to be stopped midway through the song. The Congress should "feel ashamed," Shah said. "Look at their (Congress's) shamelessness. The anthem Vande Mataram was being sung at the Congress Party headquarters. During the anthem, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi told the Congress President to stop singing. We all saw it on television... Sonia ji, 140 crore people are watching you. This sin you have committed will never be forgiven by the people of this country. How can anyone even dream of leaving the anthem Vande Mataram incomplete? The people of Congress should feel ashamed..." Shah said. Shah said that Congress should apologise to the people and to Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's immortal soul. "If there is any shame left, you should fold your hands and apologise to Bankim Babu's immortal spirit and the people," he said. The Congress, which has refuted the allegations, claimed that Shah and the BJP were trying to divert attention from real issues and the "colossal failures of his and his Sahib's". Earlier on Saturday, a controversy broke out on Saturday after a video showed Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge gesturing while the full version of 'Vande Mataram' was being played at the party's Independence Day celebrations at Indira Bhawan in New Delhi. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders alleged that the two leaders attempted to halt the rendition of the national song midway, prompting a swift clarification from the party. However, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh rejected the claims, saying the full version of 'Vande Mataram' was sung at the event and that there was no attempt to stop it. He clarified that Sonia Gandhi had merely asked for a chair to be brought for Kharge, who had been standing for an extended period, given his age. "The full version of Vande Mataram was sung here at Indira Bhawan today, and there is no controversy in it. There was no attempt to stop it. Since the Congress President was standing for a long time, Sonia ji was asking for a chair to be brought for him," Ramesh told reporters.
