‘Vande Mataram Above Politics’: Shah Slams Priyanka

• Amit Shah slams Priyanka Gandhi for linking Vande Mataram debate to Bengal elections
• Says national song is a symbol of sacrifices “from freedom fighters to frontline troops”
• Accuses Congress of decades of appeasement, cites Nehru-era decision on truncated stanzas
• Congress counters with sharp rebuttal as Kharge accuses BJP of rewriting history

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 9th Dec: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday launched a sharp counterattack on Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, dismissing her allegation that the NDA government’s parliamentary discussion on Vande Mataram was aimed at influencing the upcoming West Bengal elections. Shah said reducing India’s national song to a poll-time tactic was an “unfortunate” insult to its legacy and those who sacrificed their lives for the nation.

Without naming Priyanka Gandhi, Shah told the Rajya Sabha that some members had questioned the very need for a discussion marking 150 years of Vande Mataram. “There was a need for a discussion when it was written, when India became free, today, and there will be a need in 2047,” he said. “Those who cannot understand why Vande Mataram is being discussed need to introspect.”

Rejecting the claim that the debate was timed for Bengal politics, Shah said: “It is true that Vande Mataram’s creator, Bankim Babu, was born in Bengal, but Vande Mataram did not remain restricted to Bengal or even to India. Wherever Indian freedom fighters met in hideouts worldwide, they said ‘Vande Mataram’.” He added that even today, troops at the borders and security forces who lay down their lives have the same words on their lips.

The Home Minister escalated his attack by invoking Jawaharlal Nehru, claiming that the first Prime Minister split Vande Mataram and limited it to two stanzas on its 50th anniversary — a move Shah labelled as “appeasement.”

“Appeasement began from there, and that appeasement led to Partition. Many like me believe that if Vande Mataram was not split due to a policy of appeasement, Partition would not have happened,” he said. Shah also recalled that during the Emergency, those who raised Vande Mataram were jailed.

He dismissed opposition accusations of diversion, stating that the government does not fear debate. “We don’t boycott Parliament. If they allow the House to function, all issues will be discussed. We have nothing to hide.”

Responding with equal force, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge opened his speech with a resounding “Vande Mataram,” asserting that it was the Congress that made the chant a rallying cry of the freedom movement. “Congress started the tradition of singing Vande Mataram at its conventions. Did you do it?” he asked the treasury benches.

Kharge accused the government of selectively invoking history while ignoring its own political past. “You speak of appeasement. When you formed a government in Bengal in alliance with the Muslim League, where was your patriotism?” he said.

Calling out what he described as repeated attacks on Jawaharlal Nehru, Kharge reminded the House that the 1937 Congress Working Committee had unanimously voted that only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram be sung at national events. “Was Nehruji alone? Why target him? If you are trying to damage his image, it is impossible.”

Priyanka Gandhi, speaking a day earlier, had accused the government of forcing a debate on the national song to divert attention from pressing public issues. “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.

Kharge echoed that sentiment on Tuesday, saying: “If you truly want to honour Bharat Mata, let this Parliament work for the people’s issues.”