Cong a proud flag-bearer of ‘Vande Mataram’: Kharge

Marking the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said the grand old party had been the proud flag-bearer of the National Song that awakened the collective soul of the nation and became a rallying cry during the freedom struggle.

In a statement, Kharge said, “India’s National Song ‘Vande Mataram’, composed by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, embodies the spirit of Bharat Mata and celebrates India’s unity in diversity.”

“The Indian National Congress has been the proud flag-bearer of ‘Vande Mataram’. It was during the 1896 session of the Congress in Calcutta that Vande Mataram was sung publicly for the first time by Rabindranath Tagore. That moment infused new life into the freedom struggle,” said Kharge.

He said as the British Empire’s policy of ‘divide and rule’ sought to manipulate religious, caste and regional identities to break India’s unity, Vande Mataram rose as a song of unflinching strength, uniting all Indians in devotion to Bharat Mata.

Tracing its historic role, Kharge said from the Partition of Bengal in 1905 to the last breaths of the country’s brave revolutionaries, Vande Mataram echoed through the land. It was the title of Lala Lajpat Rai’s publication, inscribed on Bhikaji Cama’s flag raised in Germany, and appeared in Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil’s Kranti Gitanjali.

“Terrified by its popularity, the British banned it, for it had become the heartbeat of India’s freedom struggle,” he said.

Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, Kharge said in 1915, Gandhi described Vande Mataram as the “most powerful battle cry among Hindus and Muslims of Bengal during the Partition days. It was an anti-imperialist cry.”

He also recalled Jawaharlal Nehru’s 1938 remark that the song had been directly related to Indian nationalism for more than 30 years.

The Congress president pointed out that the party had formally recognised ‘Vande Mataram’ as the National Song in 1937, reaffirming its status as a symbol of India’s unity in diversity.

He, however, accused the RSS and the BJP of hypocrisy, saying those who now claim to be “self-proclaimed guardians of nationalism” had never sung ‘Vande Mataram’ or the National Anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ in their offices.

“Instead, they continue to sing Namaste Sada Vatsale, a song glorifying their organisations, not the nation. Since its founding in 1925, the RSS has avoided singing ‘Vande Mataram’ despite its universal reverence,” said Kharge.

He further alleged that the RSS supported the Britishers against Indians in the national movement. “Besides, the Sangh did not raise the National Flag for 52 years. It abused the Constitution and burnt the effigies of Bapu and Babasaheb Ambedkar. In the words of Sardar Patel, the organisation was involved in Gandhi’s assassination.”

Meanwhile, in a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said historian Sabyasachi Bhattacharya had published a definitive biography of ‘Vande Mataram’ in 2003.

“Tagore had first sung ‘Vande Mataram’ in December 1896 session of the Indian National Congress in Kolkata. Subsequently, he was to play the most crucial role in determining the place of Vande Mataram in our public life as reflected in the Congress Working Committee resolution of October 29, 1937,” Ramesh said.