'Vande Mataram' row: Amit Shah accuses Congress of ‘extreme appeasement’

Union Home minister Amit Shah on Thursday accused the Congress of returning to what he called an “extreme policy of appeasement” after the party decided that only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram would be sung at its events.

The Congress Working Committee (CWC) took the decision on Wednesday, citing the party’s 1937 resolution on the national song. The move has triggered a fresh political confrontation between the BJP and Congress, with both sides invoking the history of Vande Mataram and the freedom movement.

Shah links 1937 decision to Partition

Shah argued that the Congress decision was more than a matter of how much of the song should be sung. He linked the 1937 resolution to the politics that preceded Partition.

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"Yesterday, the Congress Party Working Committee took a surprising and anti-national decision. Following their party's resolution of 1937, they have decided to sing only two stanzas of the great song, Vande Mataram. I want to remind the entire country that in 1937, for Muslim appeasement, the Congress party laid the foundation for the partition of the country by dividing Vande Mataram into two. From there, the two-nation theory gained strength and eventually, the country was partitioned and Pakistan was born," Shah said.

He said the Narendra Modi government had sought to reverse what it considered a historical mistake by promoting the complete rendition of the song.

"Today, when the Narendra Modi government has corrected that historical mistake in the 150th year of Vande Mataram's composition, and tried to strengthen national integration by singing the entire song. The decision to sing it in full in all government functions has been given legal form as well. Yesterday, Congress decided to ignore it.

This decision by Congress only confirms their extreme policy of appeasement. For vote bank appeasement, they have not only insulted the immortal work of the late Bankim Babu, but also millions of martyrs who went to the gallows for the country's independence while chanting Vande Mataram, and spent many years in jail," he added.

Congress defends its position

The Congress has maintained that its decision follows the position adopted by the party in 1937. Congress MP KC Venugopal said the party would follow decisions taken by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at the time.

The controversy had intensified after the BJP accused Sonia Gandhi of trying to stop the national song from being sung during the August 15 Independence Day celebrations. Congress denied the allegation.

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Kharge hits back at BJP

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also criticised the BJP and the RSS while defending his party’s record in the freedom struggle.

Taking a dig at Shah, Kharge said, "When I became an MLA, Amit Shah was not even born yet. How old is he? How old is he? Is he 57 or 58? These people are 56 or 57 years old. Our people fought for the freedom of the country. You fought? Tell me. Which BJP man fought for the freedom of this country? Which RSS man fought for the freedom of this country? And we are not patriots? These people are against the country. Anti-India. You are anti-India."