Vande Mataram debate has no link to Bengal polls, says Shah

Vande Mataram may have been composed by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in Bengal but it transcended borders and became the chant for India’s freedom struggle, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday as he attacked the Opposition for linking the debate on 150 years of the national song with the upcoming West Bengal elections.

- Smriti Kak Ramachandran

Initiating a special debate on the 150 years of Vande Mataram in the Rajya Sabha, Shah attacked the Opposition Congress, saying that when Vande Mataram turned 50, itwas reduced to two stanzas, which paved the way for appeasement politics and subsequently the country’s Partition.

“Many people like me believe that if Congress had not divided Vande Mataram under its policy of appeasement, the country would not have been divided, and today the country would be whole,” he said.

Shah alleged that he had observed some Opposition lawmakers showing disrespect by opting to walk out of the House to avoid participating in the national song discussion, eliciting a sharp response from the Opposition that demanded authentication of his claim. The minister said he would furnish the names, which should be made part of the House records.

Shah lashed out at the Opposition, particularly the Congress, for insinuating that the discussion was a means of deflecting attention from issues and initiated with aneyeon the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal next year.