Congress did not give due respect to Vande Mataram: JP Nadda
The Congress did not give the national song, Vande Mataram the respect it deserved, BJP president and Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha, JP Nadda said.
NEW DELHI: The Congress did not give the national song, Vande Mataram the respect it deserved, Bharatiya Janata Party president and Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha, JP Nadda said on Thursday even as the opposition party protested and accused the government of wanting to malign India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha during the special discussion on Vande Mataram, Nadda said his intention was not to tarnish Nehru’s legacy but put things on records. “They cite the Nehruvian age when they want to take credit…” he said adding, that as the head of the party and later the government, the blame should also lie with Nehru.
He said a mere nine minutes were allocated for a discussion on the national song during the Constituent Assembly’s deliberations while more time was earmarked for the national anthem.
Pointing out that he meant no disrespect to the national anthem, he said he was comparing the time only to show lack of “due respect” shown by the Congress to the National Song. Amid protest by the Congress leaders that he was not sticking to facts, Nadda said Nehru did not regard Vande Mataram as a contender for the national anthem.
Quoting Nehru’s letters, he said India’s first PM believed the song was not suitable for orchestral arrangement, particularly in foreign settings where India’s anthem would be performed by orchestras from the hosts.
He accused the Congress of having compromised on the culture, ethos and thought process of India and said that the invocation of Maa Bharti or Bharat Mata (Mother India) was not a partisan slogan belonging to the Jan Sangh, RSS or the BJP, but a civilisational expression rooted in thousands of years of history.
Even as Leader of Opposition and Congress president, Mallikarjun Kharge intervened to ask whether the debate was over ‘Vande Mataram’ or Nehru, Nadda said the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, does not even have a provision for a penalty if one disrespects or does not sing the national song.
