NEW DELHI: The Congress on Monday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and accused him of using his speech during the Lok Sabha discussion on “Vande Mataram” to “rewrite history” and give a “political colour” to the debate. During the day-long discussion on 150 years of Vande Mataram, Congress deputy leader Gaurav Gogoi said the prime minister has a “habit” of bringing up Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress in almost every speech, irrespective of the issue.
“It seemed that your political ancestors participated in various movements against the British. So I saw the intention in the PM’s speech to rewrite and revise history. The second objective was to give a political color to this debate,” Gogoi said.“He took Nehru’s name 14 times and that of the Congress 50 times during the debate on Operation Sindoor. When there was a discussion on the 75th anniversary of the Constitution, Nehru’s name was taken 10 times and that of the Congress 26 times,” Gogoi said. Gogoi asserted that “no matter how much the BJP tries, it will not be able to put a single blot on the contribution of Jawaharlal Nehru.”Gogoi claimed that it was the Congress that truly gave “Vande Mataram” the prominence it deserved, adding that his party ensured it was not reduced to a mere political slogan but accorded the status of the national song.Gogoi said that “it was in the 1896 Calcutta session of the Congress that Rabindranath Tagore first sang ‘Vande Mataram’.” He added that Tagore had even written to Jawaharlal Nehru, saying, “the privilege of originally setting the first stanza of Vande Mataram to the tune was mine when the author was still alive.”The Congress MP further added that in the 1905 Banaras session of the party, Sarala Devi Chaudhurani also sang “Vande Mataram.”“An important amendment was made in this song which was that of population. The original song mentioned 7 crore, but in 1905, during the Banaras session, Sarla Dev Chaudhurani made it 30 crore and turned the focus of the entire country to Vande Mataram,” Gogoi said.He noted that it was the Muslim League that had called for boycotting Vande Mataram. He recalled that “Congress’ Maulana Azad said, ‘I have no problems with Vande Mataram’. That was the difference between the Congress and Mohammad Ali Jinnah.”Despite pressure from the League, he said, the Congress decided at its 1937 session that the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram would be sung at national gatherings. He added that although both the Muslim League and the Hindu Mahasabha opposed the move, the Congress chose to follow public sentiment rather than their diktat.The Lok Sabha on Monday opened a special discussion to mark 150 years of Vande Mataramwith Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiating the debate and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh scheduled to conclude it. The Rajya Sabha will take up the discussion on Tuesday, led by Home Minister Amit Shah.Framing the debate around what he termed the Congress’s historic concessions to the Muslim League, the Prime Minister accused the party of having “fragmented” Vande Mataram and undermined the spirit of the freedom struggle.
