Kharge accuses BJP of insulting Nehru over ‘Vande Mataram’ debate

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday accused BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, of insulting Jawaharlal Nehru, amid the ongoing debate over the use of 'Vande Mataram' as the national song. Kharge emphasized that the decision to adopt only the first two stanzas was a collective choice by leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Subhash Chandra Bose, Madan Mohan Malaviya, and Acharya JB Kripalani.

Responding to BJP’s allegations that Congress had “divided” the song written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Kharge asserted that Congress leaders have always sung ‘Vande Mataram’. Speaking after Home Minister Amit Shah criticized the Congress for what he called “appeasement politics” behind using only two stanzas, Kharge began his address with the slogan “Vande Mataram.”

“We have always been singing Vande Mataram. But those who did not sing it earlier have started doing so now. That is the power of Vande Mataram. It is a national festival, not a debate,” he said.

Kharge recalled the non-cooperation movement of 1921, saying, “Congress members were going to jail chanting Vande Mataram. What were you doing then? Working for the British? You are teaching patriotism to us?”

He also criticized the Prime Minister for blaming Nehru for the exclusion of certain stanzas, saying, “You are insulting all these tall leaders. It was their combined decision. Why target Nehruji alone?” Quoting Tagore, Kharge noted that the poet had expressed no objection to separating the first two stanzas from the rest of the song.