During the Lok Sabha debate on Vande Mataram, Congress senior MP Priyanka Gandhi said the discussion is to divert attention from real issues and eyed at the West Bengal assembly elections in 2026.
“Vande Mataram reminds us of history of our freedom struggle,” she said, asking what debate there can be on the national song. The discussion in the Lok Sabha marked 150 years of the national song.
She claimed that the Centre wants to level more accusations against those who “fought for freedom and made sacrifices for country because it does not want to look at present and future”.
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"Since you keep talking about Nehru, let's do one thing, let's assign a time for a discussion, list out all the insults against him... debate it and let's close the chapter for once and all," she said. "After that, let's talk about today's issues - price rise and unemployment."
The Wayanad MP listed the "chronology" of Vande Mataram and cited correspondence between Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose as she rebutted Modi's charge that the Congress indulged in appeasement politics.
She pointed out that Bankim Chandra Chatterjee wrote the first two stanzas of the song in 1875. In 1882, he added four more stanzas and published it in Anand Math, she said, adding that Rabindranath Tagore sang it for the first time at a Congress session in 1896.
Priyanka said that questioning the decision of selecting the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram as the national song was akin to questioning the Constituent Assembly and its members.
“Modi is not the PM he used to be, his self-confidence is decreasing; his policies are weakening country... People of country are not happy, they are surrounded by problems and govt is not finding solution to them," she said.
Pointing out that Vande Mataram is alive in every part of the country, Priyanka said there can be no debate on it. “PM Modi gives a good speech but there is one shortcoming that he is weak on facts,” she added.
