By Countering Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s allegation that the NDA government proposed a parliamentary discussion on Vande Mataram to influence the upcoming West Bengal elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the national song belongs to the entire country and should not be linked to politics.
Without directly naming Priyanka Gandhi, Shah said some MPs had questioned the need for a discussion marking 150 years of Vande Mataram. “A debate on Vande Mataram was essential when it was written, when India attained independence, today, and it will remain relevant even in 2047,” he said. Those who do not understand why the House is discussing the national song, he added, “need to introspect.”
Shah rejected the claim that the discussion was tied to the Bengal polls. While acknowledging that Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, the song’s creator, was from Bengal, he stressed that Vande Mataram transcended regions and became a rallying cry for freedom fighters worldwide. “Even today, when soldiers defending our borders or handling internal security lay down their lives, the words on their lips are Vande Mataram,” he told the Rajya Sabha.
Priyanka Gandhi, speaking a day earlier, had questioned the timing of the debate, saying the government seemed intent on diverting attention from pressing national issues. She asked why a discussion on the national song was necessary when it had already held a place in India’s consciousness for more than 150 years. “Your objective is to keep us in the past because this government does not want to look at the present and the future,” she said.
Shah responded that the government does not avoid debates. “We don’t boycott Parliament. If the opposition allows the House to function, every issue can be discussed. We have nothing to hide,” he said.
The Home Minister also accused former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi of diminishing the stature of Vande Mataram. He claimed Nehru restricted the song to two stanzas on its 50th anniversary, calling it the start of “appeasement” that eventually contributed to Partition. He further alleged that during the Emergency, those who chanted Vande Mataram were jailed by Indira Gandhi.
Responding to Shah, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge opened his speech by chanting Vande Mataram, pointing out that the Congress had made the song a central slogan of the freedom movement. Citing history, Kharge said the Congress Working Committee unanimously decided in 1937 that only the first two stanzas should be sung at national events. “Why target Nehruji alone?” he asked. “If the intention is to tarnish Nehru’s legacy, it is impossible.”
