Discussion on Vande Mataram BJP's Attention Diversion Tactic: Priyanka Gandhi

 New Delhi: Leading the charge for the Opposition, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that the government was holding the debate on the National Song Vande Mataram with an eye on the upcoming Bengal elections.

She told the Lok Sabha that the discussion was being held to divert attention from unemployment, exam paper leaks and economic woes. She reminded the House that it was the Congress which gave Vande Mataram the status of National Song.

While claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was politicising the issue, Deputy Leader of the Opposition Gaurav Gogoi (Congress) accused the BJP of attempting to "rewrite history".

Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav said that the Centre was trying to "appropriate" the Vande Mataram, the National Song which had united the country.

Trinamul Congress MP Mahua Moitra accused the BJP of using the Vande Mataram as an electoral tool ahead of the 2026 Bengal polls and called BJP's commitment to the National Song "a badly scripted comedy". Moitra questioned the ruling party's claim to the legacy of the freedom struggle, asking, "Who in the BJP can claim even a tenuous link to the freedom movement that today you feel you are the guardians of Vande Mataram?"

DMK MP A. Raja claimed that historically documented evented show that the Vande Mataram was projected in ways that excluded Muslims in the early 20th century. The controversy surrounding the song was not created by the community but by those who framed it as a "Hindu-only" anthem.

Priyanka Gandhi said there were two reasons for the debate on Vande Mataram now. “One, elections are coming up in West Bengal. In such a situation, our Prime Minister wants to establish his role, and second, those who fought the freedom struggle and sacrificed for the country — this government wants an opportunity to level new accusations against them. By doing this, the government wants to divert the country's attention from the essential issues concerning the public," she said.

She slammed the BJP for targeting first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. "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," she said.

"You want us to keep delving into the past because this government does not want to look at the present and the future," she said. "What is our objective, our responsibility towards people, how are we fulfilling that. ...Why are we having a debate on the national song? What debate can there be on it?"

"The youth of the country are worried, they are troubled, there are paper leaks happening, there is unemployment, why are we not discussing these issues in the House? Why are we not discussing the tampering with reservations here? Why strong steps are not being taken for improving the situation of women," asked Priyanka Gandhi.

"In every session of the Congress, Vande Mataram is sung collectively. The question is: Is Vande Mataram sung in BJP-RSS sessions or not? By making this great mantra of the nation's soul controversial, the BJP is committing a sin, but the Congress party will not be part of this sin. This national song 'Vande Mataram' has always been dear to us, has always been sacred to us, and will always remain sacred to us," Priyanka Gandhi said.

"PM Modi said that in 1896, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore sang this song for the first time in a convention, but he did not tell which session it was. Was it a session of the Hindu Mahasabha or RSS? Why was he hesitant to say that it was Congress's session?" she asked.

"You (BJP) are for the elections, we are for the country. No matter how many elections we lose, we will sit here and keep fighting you and your ideology. We will keep fighting for our country. You cannot stop us," she said.

The Congress leader also listed the "chronology" of Vande Mataram and cited correspondence between Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose to rebut Prime Minister Modi's charge that the Congress had indulged in the politics of appeasement. "Bankim Chandra Chatterjee wrote the song in 1875, when he wrote the first two stanzas and in 1882, he published it in Anand Math after adding four stanzas," she said.

Priyanka Gandhi said that questioning the decision of having the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram as the National Song was akin to questioning the Constituent Assembly and its members.

"The topic that we are discussing is part of the soul of the country. When we mention Vande Mataram, it reminds us of the history of our freedom struggle. This debate is strange; this song has made a place in people's hearts; so what is the need for a debate?" Priyanka Gandhi said.

"Modi ji has been PM for about 12 years and Nehru ji was in jail for around the same period," she said on the Prime Minister's criticism of India’s first prime minister.

"Prime Minister Modi is not the PM he used to be; it is showing that his self-confidence is decreasing and his policies are weakening the country. My friends in the government are silent because deep inside they also know this," she said.

Samajwadi Party leader Yadav hit out at the BJP, claiming that those who did not participate in the freedom struggle were now talking of the values of "Vande Mataram" and asserted that the national song should not be used as a tool to impose one's beliefs on others. He questioned how individuals who did not participate in the freedom struggle could truly understand the meaning of Vande Mataram.

"Today, divisive elements are using Vande Mataram to create divisions. These individuals are still following the same 'divide and rule' policy used by the British," Yadav said. He also accused those on the treasury benches of wanting to own everything, saying, "time and again it has been seen that those on the ruling side try to appropriate iconic leaders who never belonged to them".