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Vande Mataram row: Amit Shah attacks Sonia Gandhi, Congress hits back, cases filed
The development came days after Parliament passed a bill that makes any insult to the national song a punishable offence.
The controversy surrounding Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s alleged objection to the singing of the entire Vande Mataram song during the party’s Independence day celebrations snowballed into a full-blown political feud on Sunday, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staging protests across the country and registering complaints against the senior opposition leader.
The Congress has denied the allegation that attempts were made by Sonia to stop the singing of the full version of the national song at the AICC headquarters on Saturday. The party said Sonia was only asking for a chair for Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge as he was standing for a while.
The development came days after Parliament passed a bill that makes any insult to the national song a punishable offence. The Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, was passed by a voice vote in the Lok Sabha on July 30, a day after it was approved by the Rajya Sabha. The law grants status to Vande Mataram on par with national anthem Jana Gana Mana.
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Shah targets Congress
Deep Dive
The controversy broke out on Saturday when BJP national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh shared a video of the Congress’s event on X. "Mother, son and national president (of the Congress) seem to be upset by the rendering of full Vande Mataram,” he wrote on the micro-blogging site.
On Sunday, Union home minister Amit Shah said the Vande Mataram song was sung at the Red Fort and all other places where flag hoisting was held after 80 years of Independence.
"Thousands of people faced bullets and lathis and were jailed for singing Vande Mataram," he said, referring to the use of the revolutionary slogan during the freedom struggle. "We all saw it on television. Sonia ji, 140 crore (people) are watching you. The people of the country will never forgive you for your sin... If there is any shame left, you should fold your hands and apologise to Bankim Babu's immortal spirit and the people," he added.
The Vande Mataram song was written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee.
Also Read | Complaint filed against Sonia, Rahul Gandhi over disrespect to Vande Mataram
Shah was addressing a public event at Chittorgarh, Rajasthan, when he made the remarks. He alleged the Congress had forgotten 'Vande Mataram' due to vote-bank politics.
At a press conference in the national capital, BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said the alleged opposition to the Vande Mataram song pointed towards a mindset of a "dimagi Naxal ecosystem".
"Can any patriot, can any Indian who believes in the Constitution of India, respects the Tricolour of India, respects India's freedom fighters and believes in India's sovereignty and integrity, ever get angry at the invocation of Vande Mataram on Independence Day?" he said.
He also said the Congress government in Kerala crossed all limits by completely removing Vande Mataram from the Independence Day celebrations.
Bankim Chandra’s descendant joins protest
BJP MLA Sumitro Chatterjee, a fifth-generation direct descendant of Bankim Chandra, sought an “unconditional apology” from Sonia.
In a letter to the Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson, the MLA from Naihati in West Bengal said the incident had deeply hurt the sentiments of the people of the eastern state, and appealed to her to introspect.
West Bengal CM attacks Congress
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari also said the incident had deeply offended the people of the state, where Bankim Chandra is revered as "Sahitya Samrat".
"Yesterday was Independence Day. During the event at the Congress headquarters in Delhi, when Vande Mataram was being sung, Sonia Gandhi expressed her displeasure at singing the full version. The entire country witnessed this on live telecast," Adhikari told reporters in Kolkata.
He accused the Congress leadership of trying to explain away the episode and said video footage would establish what happened. "As Chief Minister, I feel that insulting Vande Mataram is an insult to Bankim Chandra himself. I strongly condemn this," he said.
Congress refutes allegation
The Congress denied the BJP's allegation that Sonia showed disrespect to the national song or attempted to stop the singing of its full version.
The party maintained that there was no attempt to interrupt the rendition and that Sonia was only asking for a chair for Kharge, who had been standing for some time.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh slammed Shah as someone who insulted B R Ambedkar on the floor of the Rajya Sabha on December 17, 2024, and who belongs to an ideology that did not see fit to unfurl the Tricolour at its organisation's headquarters till January 2002.
"A man who insulted Dr Ambedkar on the floor of the Rajya Sabha on Dec 17, 2024. A man who belongs to an ideology that did not see fit to unfurl the tiranga at its headquarters till Jan 2002. A man who orchestrated the Delhi Police's brutalities on peacefully protesting youth,” he said on X.
“Such a man is now demanding an apology from the Congress to divert attention away from the real issues of the day and away from the colossal failures of his and his Sahib's," he added.
Congress's media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said when lathis rained down for chanting "Vande Mataram", it was the Congress that had sounded the bugle of freedom through this song. "At that time, people associated with the Sangh either fled with their tails tucked between their legs or wagged their tails to please their British masters," he said.
Several Congress leaders also shared on social media Ramesh's speech in the Rajya Sabha on December 10, 2025, during a debate marking 150 years of Vande Mataram. Participating in the debate, Ramesh had accused the BJP of distorting history and insulting freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for the country.
Complaints filed, protests held across country
Multiple protests broke out and complaints were registered against Sonia across the country on Sunday.
A complaint was filed with the Delhi Police seeking registration of an FIR against Sonia and Rahul Gandhi over alleged obstruction during the singing of Vande Mataram. The complaint, filed by an advocate, was submitted at the IP Estate police station on August 16.
The complaint alleged that Sonia made gestures after the initial portion of the National Song had been sung, which the complainant claimed appeared to indicate an objection to its continuation. It also referred to a video in which Rahul is allegedly heard saying, "We are not singing Vande Mataram."
In Bengaluru, the BJP Yuva Morcha (youth wing) lodged a complaint at the Malleshwaram police station regarding the alleged insult and sought legal action. The Yuva Morcha also staged a protest near BJP state headquarters in the Karnataka capital.
In the police complaint, the Yuva Morcha said the song played an important role in the freedom struggle and is presently the national song of India. It is required by the law of our land to be accorded the same respect as our national anthem, "Jana Gana Mana”, they said.
The BJP also held a protest outside the Congress office in Srinagar. The party’s West Bengal unit held protest rallies in Kolkata and Siliguri.
In Manipur, more than 50 BJP workers, holding the national flag and posters of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, raised slogans and played the song on loudspeakers outside the Congress Bhavan.
