PM, Kharge trade choruses over Vande Mataram stanzas

Marking the 150th anniversary of the national song, Modi says Congress dropped stanzas from the original and sowed seeds of partition. Kharge says BJP and RSS avoided singing the song

- Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday criticised the Congress for removing "important stanzas" from Vande Mataram song in the party's 1937 Faizabad session. He charged that "Vande Bharat was broken into pieces. This also sowed the seeds of Partition.

Speaking at an event to mark the inauguration of yearlong commemoration of 150 years of the national song 'Vande Mataram' at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here, Modi also asked: "Why was this injustice done?" He insisted that "the same divisive ideology remains a challenge for the nation." Earlier in the day, BJP spokesperson CR Kesavan had alleged in a post on X that "the Congress committed the historic sin and blunder of linking the song with religion. Congress under Nehru citing religious grounds deliberately removed stanzas of Vande Mataram which hailed Goddess Ma Durga."