NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a fierce attack on the Congress in the Lok Sabha during a special debate marking 150 years of Vande Mataram, accusing the party of repeatedly compromising on the national song — from the freedom movement to the years after Independence. Framing the discussion around what he described as Congress’ historic concessions to the Muslim League, the Prime Minister said the party had “fragmented” the song and betrayed the spirit of the freedom struggle.
At the centre of his speech was a sharp critique of Jawaharlal Nehru’s handling of opposition to Vande Mataram in the late 1930s. PM Modi told the Lower House, “Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru wrote a letter to Subhash Chandra Bose after Jinnah’s opposition to Vande Mataram, stating that he had read the background of Vande Mataram and thought it might provoke and irritate Muslims. He added that they would examine the use of Vande Mataram, and that too in Bankim Chandra’s Bengal.”PM Modi said the turning point came on October 26 of that year. “The Vande Mataram song was sung. But it is the misfortune of the country that on October 26, the Congress compromised on Vande Mataram. Vande Mataram ke tukde kardiye. That decision was a failure, a betrayal,” he said. “They bowed to the Muslim League and decided to fragment Vande Mataram.”The Prime Minister recounted how Vande Mataram had become synonymous with India’s struggle against colonial rule. “When they divided Bengal in 1905, Vande Mataram stood like a rock,” he said, adding that “Vande Mataram also showed India the path to self-reliance. Back then, from matchboxes to large ships, ‘Vande Mataram’ was written as a tradition. It became a means to challenge foreign companies and emerged as a slogan of the Swadeshi movement.”He described the song as something far deeper than a political chant. “Vande Mataram was not just a mantra for political independence. It was not limited to our independence; it was way beyond that. The freedom movement was a war to free our motherland from the clutches of slavery… During our Vedas, it was said, This land is my mother, and I am the son of the soil.”PM Modi also invoked Mahatma Gandhi, telling the House, “In the weekly Indian Opinion on 2 December 1905, Mahatma Gandhi wrote that the song Vande Mataram, composed by Bankim Chandra, had become famous across Bengal… He wrote that this song was so popular it had become like our national anthem, carrying deeper emotions and more melody than the national songs of other countries.”The Prime Minister asked why the song suffered “injustice” in the last century. “Vande Mataram was so great, then why did injustice happen to it in the last century? Why was there betrayal with Vande Mataram? Which were those powers whose wishes overshadowed the emotions of Mahatma Gandhi?” he said, arguing that Congress’ compromises ultimately fed into the conditions that led to Partition. “Congress compromised on Vande Mataram and, as a result, had to accept the decision of the country’s partition.”PM Modi urged Parliament to treat the occasion as a moment of national reaffirmation. “Some great people of India dreamed of a free India, and today’s generation dreams of a prosperous India. The inspiration for both is Vande Mataram,” he said, adding that India must become “Aatmanirbhar and Viksit by 2047.”
