Vande Mataram issue: Sushma targets Sonia

Sushma Swaraj said by not rendering Vande Mataram Sonia Gandhi proved "blood is thicker than water".

BJP spokesperson and former Union Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday said by not rendering the national song Vande Mataram on September 7, Congress President Sonia Gandhi proved "blood is thicker than water".

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"I felt the same way when I protested—soon after the UPA bagged a majority—against the move to elevate a person of foreign origin to the post of Prime Minister," she said as part of the BJP's National Public Awakening Programme, regarding Vande Mataram, that got underway on the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya.

Pointing out that Gandhi earlier freed Bofors case-accused Ottavio Quattrocchi's frozen assets, Swaraj added that the controversy over the national song was entirely due to the Congress.

"No religion is against paying obeisances to one's mother. It will be wrong to say Vande Mataram is anti-Islam," she added.