Congress didn’t give due respect to Vande Mataram, says Nadda

The respect that Vande Mataram deserved was never given to it, and the leaders of the country at that time were responsible for this. In 1937, Jawaharlal Nehru expressed reservations about Vande Mataram.

In a letter written to the Urdu writer Ali Sardar Jafri in in September 1937, he (Nehru) criticised the language of the song, saying there were “too many difficult words which people do not understand,” and that its ideas were out of keeping with modern notions of nationalism and progress, Nadda said.

Nadda’s attack on Nehru for negating the importance of Vande Mataram and its link to the country’s cultural heritage met with barbs from Congress MPs.

Rebutting Congress leader Jairam Ramesh’s accusation that the aim of the debate on Vande Mataram was to defame Nehru, Nadda said the objective of the debate was not to defame the former PM, but to set the record of India’s history “straight”.

The BJP president added that he fully respected the national anthem and was ready to sacrifice his life for it.

“Whenever there is an incident, the responsibility lies with the leader. Nehru was the leader of the Congress party at that time,” Nadda said, adding that the Congress had always been opportunistic and cites the Nehruvian age to take credit when the situation suits the party.

He said that the importance of Vande Mataram and its link to India’s cultural heritage was ignored by Nehru.

Nadda also cited an August 1948 letter from Nehru to India’s former Home Minister Sardar Patel.

“Nehru stated that he himself was responding because he was taking all decisions on this matter. Through this reply, the people of the country came to know for the first time that the Government of India’s Cabinet, led by Nehru, had already decided — outside the Constituent Assembly and on a temporary basis — to adopt Jana Gana Mana as India’s national anthem,” he said.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge asked whether the debate was on Nehru or Vande Mataram.

“In 1937, it was under the leadership of Nehru that, under pressure from communal elements, they altered the sacred song discarding stanzas that invoked Bharat Mata as Maa Durga, wielding weapons of freedom,” Nadda claimed in his 50-minute speech.

Ramesh said the national song and national anthem always had the same status. He recalled that India's first President, Rajendra Prasad, had said the same on January 24, 1950.