A political storm erupted on Sunday following Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s reported objection to the full rendition of the Vande Mataram song during the party’s Independence Day celebrations. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) responded by organizing protests nationwide and filing complaints against Gandhi. This incident has intensified the ongoing political rivalry between the BJP and Congress, highlighting the contentious atmosphere surrounding national symbols and their interpretation in political discourse.
The Congress has denied the allegation that attempts were made by Sonia to stop the singing of the full version of the national song at the AICC headquarters on Saturday. The controversy broke out on Saturday when BJP national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh shared a video of the Congress’s event on X. “As Chief Minister, I feel that insulting Vande Mataram is an insult to Bankim Chandra himself.
On Sunday, Union home minister Amit Shah said the Vande Mataram song was sung at the Red Fort and all other places where flag hoisting was held after 80 years of Independence.
The party said Sonia was only asking for a chair for Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge as he was standing for a while. “Mother, son and national president (of the Congress) seem to be upset by the rendering of full Vande Mataram,” he wrote on the micro-blogging site. He also said the Congress government in Kerala crossed all limits by completely removing Vande Mataram from the Independence Day celebrations. In a letter to the Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson, the MLA from Naihati in West Bengal said the incident had deeply hurt the sentiments of the people of the eastern state, and appealed to her to introspect. West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari also said the incident had deeply offended the people of the state, where Bankim Chandra is revered as “Sahitya Samrat”. He accused the Congress leadership of trying to explain away the episode and said video footage would establish what happened. I strongly condemn this,” he said.
