New Delhi: The national song Vande Mataram was discussed in the Rajya Sabha today, Tuesday, during the winter session of Parliament 2025. The discussion was initiated by Amit Shah from the ruling party. Leader of the Opposition in the House, Mallikarjun Kharge, responded to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Mallikarjun Kharge, criticizing the BJP in the Rajya Sabha, said that while his party’s leaders were imprisoned during the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1921 for chanting ‘Vande Mataram’, the predecessors of the BJP’s ideology were working for the British. Participating in the debate on Vande Mataram, the Congress president said that his party was instrumental in popularizing the slogan ‘Vande Mataram’ during the freedom struggle. He said, “Your (BJP’s) history is that you have always been against the freedom struggle and patriotic songs. When Mahatma Gandhi started the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1921, millions of Congress freedom fighters went to jail chanting ‘Vande Mataram’. What were you doing? At that time, you were working for the British.” He further added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not miss any opportunity to insult Jawaharlal Nehru. Kharge said that Home Minister Amit Shah also does the same. Earlier, Home Minister Amit Shah dismissed allegations that the special discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram was politically motivated ahead of the West Bengal assembly elections. He said that critics need to ‘rethink’ about the legacy and importance of the national song.
Kharge further said that the members of the Congress Working Committee, including Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Azad, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel, and Govind Ballabh Pant, passed a resolution recommending that only the first two verses should be sung wherever Vande Mataram is sung at national ceremonies. Was Nehru alone in the Congress Working Committee? You are insulting all those great leaders who collectively made that decision. Why do the Prime Minister and the Home Minister target Nehru? Speaking in the Upper House of Parliament, Shah said that some opposition MPs had claimed that the debate was linked to West Bengal’s electoral politics. Shah said that some people believe that this discussion is happening because there are elections in Bengal. They want to link the glorification of Vande Mataram to the West Bengal elections. I think they need to reconsider their understanding. He described the song as “an immortal composition that evokes devotion and duty towards Mother India,” and said that those questioning the purpose of the discussion should “think afresh and clearly.”
