Vande Mataram debate: Amit Shah’s ‘appeasement politics’ charge against Congress, Kharge says ‘don’t teach us patriotism’

“They are trying to reduce the importance of Vande Mataram by linking it with Bengal elections,” he said.

Shah further said the poem, written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay after a period of “Islamic attacks” and British cultural imposition, helped revive the idea of the nation as a mother. “Even though the British tried to ban it, people were beaten and jailed for chanting Vande Mataram. It spread from Kashmir to Kanyakumari,” he said, adding that Sri Aurobindo had described it as the “mantra of India’s awakening”.

Attacking the Congress, Shah alleged that Jawaharlal Nehru “divided” the song in 1937 by limiting its adoption to two stanzas. “This was the beginning of appeasement politics, and it eventually led to the partition of India,” the Home Minister claimed, prompting protests from Opposition benches.

Congress hits back

In a sharp response, Congress president and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge accused the BJP of repeatedly insulting Nehru and twisting history for political gain. Kharge began his speech with the slogan Vande Mataram, asserting that Congress leaders had always sung the song, including during the non-cooperation movement when many went to jail chanting Vande Mataram.

“You are teaching patriotism to us? You were scared of patriotism and were serving the British. Prime Minister Modi leaves no opportunity to insult Jawaharlal Nehru, nor does the Home Minister… I heard the Prime Minister blamed Nehru for stanzas being removed…” Kharge said.

He rejected Shah’s allegations and clarified that the decision to use only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram was a collective one taken by the Congress Working Committee, not by Nehru alone. Leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Madan Mohan Malaviya and JB Kripalani were present during the deliberations, he said, quoting Rabindranath Tagore’s view that the first two stanzas could be separated from the rest without difficulty.

Kharge asked, accusing the ruling BJP of distorting historical facts for political benefit, “You are insulting all these tall leaders. It was their combined decision. Why do you target Nehruji alone?”

With PTI inputs