Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday during a special debate in the Rajya Sabha marking 150 years of Vande Mataram to launch a pointed attack on the Congress, accusing former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of “breaking the national song into pieces” and later “dividing the country”.
Speaking during the discussion, Shah alleged that the Congress leadership had “gagged the nation” during the Emergency, claiming that people who chanted Vande Mataram under Indira Gandhi’s rule were imprisoned. He also criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for skipping Monday’s corresponding Lok Sabha debate, which had been led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On Monday, the Prime Minister had used the occasion to accuse the Congress of decades of “neglect and disrespect” of Vande Mataram. He described the song as a source of enduring inspiration, saying it should guide India towards becoming a self-reliant, developed nation by 2047. “Vande Mataram is a mantra that fuelled the freedom movement with strength, inspiration and sacrifice,” Modi said.
Carrying the debate forward, Shah underscored that the national song was far more than a regional icon rooted in Bengal. Dismissing speculation that the discussion was aimed at influencing the Bengal Assembly elections, he said the song’s resonance “extends across the nation”.
“Even today, when a soldier makes the supreme sacrifice, the words on his lips are Vande Mataram,” Shah said, calling it a unifying cry of the freedom struggle that continues to inspire the country.
