Gandhinagar: The ruling BJP and opposition Congress engaged in a verbal duel in the Gujarat assembly on Monday over a resolution moved by chief minister Bhupendra Patel to commemorate 150 years of India’s national song, Vande Mataram. Presenting the resolution, the CM said, “Vande Mataram is a revolutionary mantra that resonates deeply with all Indians. Let us all resolve to maintain national unity with renewed energy.”Speaking after Patel moved the resolution, deputy CM Harsh Sanghavi described the song Vande Mataram as “devotion towards worshipping the nation as a mother” and accused the Congress party, including former PM Jawaharlal Nehru, of disrespecting the national song.
He said that singing of Vande Mataram began in Parliament only in 1992, after the BJP moved a proposal, asserting that for the BJP, patriotism was not political but an inherent value rooted in cultural nationalism.“It is unfortunate that certain political parties and people harbour hatred even towards this sacred song. They did it in the past, and I see no scope for change,” Sanghavi said. Taking a jibe at the Congress, the deputy CM said that 50 years ago, when the song completed 100 years, former PM Indira Gandhi jailed people for raising the slogan ‘Vande Mataram’.He added that even during the 150th anniversary celebrations of the song in Parliament, some Congress leaders remained absent when the song was sung. “From Nehruji to the current Congress leadership, their dislike for Vande Mataram remains intact,” he said.Sanghavi alleged that in 1937, Congress leaders agreed to sing only the first two stanzas of the song because of pressure from the Muslim League. “This division of Vande Mataram was not just the division of a song. It was the seed of the country’s partition,” he said.Participating in the discussion, Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar accused the BJP of distorting history, adding that his party was historically associated with the national song. “The feeling of patriotism flows in the blood of Indians. There is no need to remind anyone of it,” Parmar said, clarifying that he and his party supported the chief minister’s resolution.Parmar pointed out, “In 1946, at a Congress session in Calcutta attended by Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Nehru, a resolution was passed to accord Vande Mataram the status of national song.”The resolution was unanimously passed in the assembly.
