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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.
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Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday targeted senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi for allegedly insulting ‘Vande Mataram’ during an Independence Day programme, demanding that she apologise to the people, even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held demonstrations across the country against the Congress.
On Sunday, complaints were filed against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi for allegedly showing disrespect to the national song during the flag hoisting at the party headquarters a day ago.
Shah targets Congress
Addressing a public meeting in Rajasthan’s Chittorgarh district, Shah alleged that Sonia Gandhi asked Vande Mataram to be stopped midway during the programme.
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Deep Dive
“We all saw it on television,” Shah said, adding that Sonia Gandhi should apologise to the people and to Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. “If there is any shame left, you should fold your hands and apologise to Bankim Babu’s immortal spirit and the people,” he said.
Shah remarked that opposition parties had allowed Vande Mataram to fade into oblivion out of a greed for “vote-bank politics”. “The Opposition is not liking the immortal mantra and immortal song of Bankim Babu getting respect again after 80 years,” Shah said. “Sonia ji, 140 crore (1.4 billion) people are watching you. The people of this country will never forgive this sin committed by you. How can anyone even dream of leaving the song of Vande Mataram incomplete?”
Several leaders of the ruling BJP also accused Sonia Gandhi of objecting to the singing of the full version of ‘Vande Mataram’ at the event, a charge that the Congress denied, asserting that there was no attempt to stop the singing of the full version of the national song and she was only asking for a chair for party chief Mallikarjun Kharge as he was standing for a while.
Also Read | Complaint filed against Sonia, Rahul Gandhi over disrespect to Vande Mataram
West Bengal chief minister and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari alleged that Sonia Gandhi had objected to the singing of the complete version of the national song and said the incident had deeply offended people in the state, where Bankim Chandra is revered as “Sahitya Samrat”. “The entire Bengal is fuming. On behalf of the people of the state, I denounce the party. I hope they will tender an unconditional apology,” he said.
Shah also accused Rajasthan Congress leadership of being plagued by internal differences. “There is constant infighting within the Congress, between Ashok Gehlot, the state president and the leader of the Opposition. In the coming days, the Congress will lose its political ground in Rajasthan and will be wiped out from the state,” he said.
The controversy comes days after Parliament cleared amendments to the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, granting “Vande Mataram” the status at par with the national anthem.
The Congress denied the charges by the BJP, asserting that there was no attempt to stop the singing of the full version of the national song and Sonia Gandhi was only asking for a chair for party chief Mallikarjun Kharge as he was standing for a while.
The party claimed that Shah and the BJP were trying to divert attention from real issues and the “colossal failures of his and his Sahib’s”.
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.
Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot targeted the BJP and the RSS over the controversy. “How can people subscribing to the RSS ideology, who did not sing Vande Mataram due to fear of the British, talk about Vande Mataram today?” Gehlot hit back.
Rajasthan’s Leader of Opposition Tikaram Jully accused police of detaining party workers who, he said, were peacefully protesting Shah’s visit at the Alwar District Congress Committee office.
“Has asking questions become a crime? Is peaceful protest a crime? The government cannot escape the truth by detaining those who speak out,” Jully said, referring to the alleged police action against students at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
