Vande Mataram debate in LS: Nehru 'betrayed' national song: PM Modi; Bengal polls a factor, says Priyanka

New Delhi, Dec 8 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday tore into the Congress alleging that the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru “betrayed” Vande Mataram by bowing to Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s opposition to the national song that led to it being fragmented and pandering to his “communal concerns” putting India on the path of appeasement politics.

As the day-long debate on the '150th anniversary of national song Vande Mataram' saw the treasury and opposition members locked in a verbal duel on a host of issues including nationalism, Priyanka Gandhi delivered the Congress’ response in a measured but scathing attack to stoutly defend Nehru and the party and claim that the government sought the special discussion keeping in mind the assembly elections in West Bengal next year.

While the Congress and other opposition parties accused the BJP-led NDA government of rewriting history and giving a political colour to the Vande Mataram debate, Modi and other members from the treasury benches accused the Congress of resorting to appeasement politics.

Gandhi accused the BJP of committing a "big sin" by creating a controversy over Vande Mataram and Modi of "selectively" quoting Nehru. She also wanted the government to "understand" the real Vande Mataram chronology.

Modi, who opened the debate, said Vande Mataram is not just a song for us but it is an inspiration to fulfil the dream of Viksit Bharat by 2047. He also spoke of how the song was about resurrecting the country’s "glorious past".

"Instead of firmly countering the baseless statements of the Muslim League and condemning them, Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Congress president, did not reaffirm his and the Congress party’s commitment to Vande Mataram, but began questioning Vande Mataram itself." Modi said Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League, first stepped up his opposition to Vande Mataram on October 15, 1937, from Lucknow.

Nehru wrote to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose five days later, sharing Jinnah's sentiments and observing that Vande Mataram's 'Anandmath' background had the potential to "irritate the Muslims", he said.

Penned by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 1875, Modi said Vande Mataram challenged the British Empire that was unsettled by the freedom struggle of 1857 and heaping injustices upon India and forcing its people into submission.

"Vande Mataram, which was a source of immense strength for every Indian both within the country and abroad, suffered grave injustice in the last century. I wonder why Vande Mataram was betrayed and what forces overshadowed the sentiments expressed by Mahatma Gandhi and dragged the sacred inspiration into controversy." The prime minister said it was ironic that Bankim Chandra's Vande Mataram underwent a review of its worth in his home state of Bengal at the Kolkata session of the Congress Working Committee in 1937, leaving the country in a state of shock and prompting patriots to take out processions against the decision of the Congress.

"Unfortunately, on October 26, 1937, Congress compromised on Vande Mataram, fragmenting it in their decision. This decision was cloaked under the guise of social harmony, but history bears witness that INC bowed before the Muslim League and acted under its pressure, adopting a politics of appeasement." "Under the pressure of appeasement politics, the Congress bent and agreed to break Vande Mataram to pieces. Therefore one day, it had to bend for the Partition of India," Modi said.

Gandhi hit out at Modi with a calm and measured demeanour, saying he is not the prime minister he used to be as his "self-confidence was decreasing and policies were weakening the country".

The Congress MP from Wayanad slammed the BJP for targeting Nehru and alleged that the government wanted this debate to make fresh allegations against those who fought for the country's freedom.

"... Whatever complaints you have against (Jawaharlal) Nehru, whatever mistakes you think he made... if you want to hurl abuses, if you want to insult as much as you like, please make a list of that too... 999 insults, 9,999 insults... make a list, and then we will fix a time.

"Just like we debated for 10 hours today on Vande Mataram, in the same way, we will ask the Speaker, we will fix a time – 10 hours, 20 hours, 40 hours, however many hours it takes for your complaint to be fully addressed," she said.

"Let's close the chapter once and for all. After that, let's talk about today’s issues - price rise and unemployment. We are having this debate as Bengal polls are coming and the prime minister wants to play his role in that." In all the sessions of the Congress from 1905 till now, Vande Mataram is sung, but does that happen in BJP conventions, she asked.

The Congress general secretary claimed that by alleging "fragmentation" of Vande Mataram, the BJP is accusing the entire Constituent Assembly and holding all its members guilty.

"This is an open attack on our Constituent Assembly and our Constitution." Launching a strong defence of Nehru, who was repeatedly criticised by treasury bench members during the debate, Gandhi said Modi has been the country's PM for about 12 years, while Nehru had spent as many years in jail for the independence of the country.

She urged people to understand the chronology of Vande Mataram and went on to recall that it was in 1875 that Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote the first two stanzas of this song, which is the national song today. In 1882, seven years later, Chattopadhyay's novel Anandamath was published, and this same song was included in it, with four more stanzas added, she said.

In 1896, at the Congress session, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore sang this song, she said, adding that in the 1930s, when communal politics emerged in the country, this song began to face controversy.

"Modi ji mentioned a letter in the House, in which he said that on October 20, Nehru ji had written to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. But the Prime Minister did not mention the letter written on October 17, which Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose ji had written to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru ji.

"Netaji had written 'My dear Jawahar, reference to Vande Mataram. We shall have a talk in Kolkata and also discuss the question in the Working Committee, if you bring it up there. I have written to Dr. Tagore to discuss this matter with you when you visit Shantiniketan. Please do not forget to have a talk with him when you visit Shantiniketan'," she said.

"On October 20, Nehru had replied to it. PM Modi quoted one line of this reply here, but the rest of what Nehru ji wrote was -- 'There is no doubt that the present outcry against Vande Mataram is to a large extent a manufactured one by the Communalists. Whatever we do, we cannot pander to Communalist feelings'," she said.

She then cited Tagore's letter to Nehru in which he stated that the two stanzas that were always sung held such profound significance that there was no difficulty in separating that part from the rest of the poem and those sections of the book.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh pointed out that "Vande Mataram" was marginalised after Independence and did not receive the recognition it deserved. PTI SKU ASK GJS JD UZM NAB ACB GSN GSN