Congress general secretary and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday launched a sharp attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party for what she described as a deliberate attempt to manufacture a dispute around the national song, Vande Mataram. Participating in the Lok Sabha discussion marking 150 years of the composition, Vadra argued that the controversy had little to do with patriotism and everything to do with electoral calculations in West Bengal, besides diverting public attention from urgent concerns such as unemployment and inflation. Drawing from historic correspondence between Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose, she underlined that the Constituent Assembly had consciously adopted only the first two stanzas of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s poem as the national song, just as the national anthem was also taken from a larger literary work. Questioning this settled decision today, she said, amounted to disrespecting the collective wisdom of the framers of the Constitution and belittling stalwarts of the freedom struggle. She asked whether those in power now considered themselves above figures such as Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji, Dr B.R. Ambedkar and Dr Rajendra Prasad.
Vadra argued that the very decision to hold a debate on a song already granted national status was politically motivated. According to her, the BJP was using the moment to fuel polarisation ahead of the Bengal elections and to shift focus away from issues such as reservation, women’s safety, and the rising cost of living. She also suggested the government intended to draw attention away from matters linked to the Prime Minister’s Office and the appearance of certain Union ministers’ names in the widely discussed Epstein files. She took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for omitting the word “Congress’’ while recounting the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress in which the song was first sung. Laying out the historical context, she emphasised that the architects of independent India chose not to include the poem’s remaining stanzas because they feared the additional verses might be misused to foment communal divisions. Even Syama Prasad Mookerjee, founder of the Jana Sangh—the political precursor to the BJP—had supported the Constituent Assembly’s decision, she noted.
Reiterating the Congress party’s long-standing reverence for Vande Mataram, Vadra said the song has been recited at every Congress session since 1905 and continues to embody the nation’s collective spirit. “This song has always been sacred to us, and it will remain so,” she said. Responding to the Prime Minister’s earlier remarks that opposition leaders insult him, she challenged him to set aside time for a full-fledged discussion on Nehru’s supposed missteps. “Let us have this debate once and for all, and move on to discussing the real challenges facing the country,” she said, speaking in her characteristic measured but firm tone.
According to Vadra, the government is unwilling to engage on matters concerning India’s present or future. She asserted that the Prime Minister’s confidence appeared shaken, and that his policies were eroding India’s institutional strength. Within the government itself, she claimed, there were growing whispers about excessive centralisation of authority in the hands of just a few individuals.