Priyanka Gandhi Targets Centre: “Understand the Real Vande Mataram Chronology”

Priyanka Gandhi Hits Out at Centre During Vande Mataram Debate, Accuses Government of Political Motive.

A heated debate on the 150th anniversary of “Vande Mataram” in Parliament on Monday saw Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra launch a strong defence of her party while accusing the government of using the issue for political gain ahead of the Bengal assembly elections.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Priyanka Gandhi said the government was “deliberately raking up old controversies” to distract from current challenges. She also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “selectively quoting” Jawaharlal Nehru and urged the BJP to hold a separate, dedicated debate if it wished to revisit old grievances.

“Let us use the precious time of Parliament for the work people elected us to do,” she said, questioning the need for a debate on Vande Mataram at all. The national song, she said, was “alive in every corner of the country” and not a subject that required parliamentary dispute.

BJP’s Charge and PM Modi’s Remarks
Addressing the House earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Congress of truncating Vande Mataram under pressure from the Muslim League during the pre-Independence years. He alleged that Nehru had accepted Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s objections and diluted the hymn’s legacy.

Modi said Nehru had written to Subhas Chandra Bose acknowledging that parts of the song could “irritate Muslims,” and argued that such decisions reflected what he called the Congress’s “appeasement politics.”

Priyanka Counters: “Understand the Real Chronology”
Responding to the Prime Minister, Priyanka Gandhi read from historical letters exchanged between Nehru, Bose and Rabindranath Tagore. She said Nehru had dismissed the controversy surrounding Vande Mataram as being “manufactured by communalists” and that Tagore himself had supported separating the two traditional stanzas from the rest of the poem to avoid misinterpretation.

“The same two stanzas were sung throughout the freedom struggle,” she said, citing Tagore’s explanation that later-added verses carried the potential for communal misreading. She reminded the House that the Congress Working Committee adopted Vande Mataram as the national song in its 1937 resolution.

DMK MP A. Raja and other opposition members echoed her criticism, accusing the BJP of distorting historical facts.

Vande Mataram: A Brief Background
The national song marked its 150th anniversary on November 7. Written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, “Vande Mataram” was first published in 1875 in Bangadarshan before being included in his 1882 novel Anandamath. Set to music by Rabindranath Tagore, it became a rallying cry during India’s freedom movement and remains deeply embedded in the country’s cultural identity.