Nehru compromised on Vande Mataram to appease Muslim League: Modi in Parl

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the Congress under Jawaharlal Nehru’s presidency betrayed Vande Mataram, compromising its spirit under the Muslim League’s pressure and “the party’s same appeasement policy later had it accept India’s Partition too”.

Opening the special discussion on “the 150th anniversary of the national song” in the Lok Sabha, the Prime Minister spoke of Mahatma Gandhi’s high deference to Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s composition and of Nehru disregarding that to associate with Muslim League leader MA Jinnah’s opposition to Vande Mataram.

Quoting Gandhi’s high praise for the song, Modi asked why Vande Mataram was betrayed. The PM’s reference was to the October 29, 1937, Congress Working Committee resolution adopting the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram as the national song and dropping the rest that featured references to Hindu deities.

Writing in Indian Opinion, a South Africa-based weekly, Gandhi on December 2, 1905, said, “Vande Mataram composed by Bankim Chandra has become extremely popular in Bengal. During the swadeshi revolution, Bengal witnessed mass rallies with lakhs congregating and singing Bankim’s song. The song has become so popular, it has become our national anthem. Its sentiments are lofty and it is sweeter than the songs of other nations, its sole objective being to inspire us to win freedom. The song sees India as a mother and inspires us to worship it.”

Modi recalled the genesis of Vande Mataram in 1875 when Chatterjee first wrote it and asked if the song was so great as to unite Indians across regions in pursuit of freedom against the British, “why was it betrayed in the bygone century?”

“Why was injustice done to the national song? Which powers got the better of Gandhi’s views on the song? Which forces dragged Vande Mataram into controversies? Present generations must know the factors because of which Vande Mataram was betrayed,” said Modi amid applause from the treasury benches.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was absent as the House opened the debate.

The PM, referring to Jinnah’s October 15, 1937, remarks opposing the song, said Nehru was unsettled by the Muslim League’s resistance to Vande Mataram and “saw his chair shaking”.

“Instead of dismissing the Muslim League’s baseless statements and pledging commitment to Vande Mataram, Nehru, the then Congress chief, did the opposite. He began investigating the song itself. On October 20, 1937, Nehru wrote to Netaji Bose associating with Jinnah’s sentiments and noting that Vande Mataram’s Anandmath context could irritate the Muslims,” Modi said.

He quoted Nehru as writing to Bose: “I have read the background of Vande Mataram. I feel that this background can provoke the Muslims.”

On October 29, 1937, the Congress in its working committee session in Bengal adopted only two stanzas of Vande Mataram as the national song.

“The Congress chose Bankim Babu’s Bengal to review Vande Mataram. The nation was shocked, patriots agitated. But the nation’s misfortune was that on October 29, the Congress compromised on Vande Mataram, truncated it, shattered it to pieces and justified all this in the name of harmony,” Modi said.

The PM said the Congress succumbed to the Muslim League on Vande Mataram as part of its politics of appeasement.

“Under the compulsions of appeasement politics, the Congress buckled and agreed to fragmenting Vande Mataram, and this (appeasement) was why one day the Congress buckled again and agreed to the Partition of the country. Congress’ policies continue along the same lines and the INC has now become MMC (Muslim Maoist Congress). The Congress and its allies continue to stir disputes over Vande Mataram,” said Modi.

The Prime Minister, however, described challenges to the national song as a passing phase in India’s journey and noted that Vande Mataram’s spirit had always united the country against adversities.

“The character of a nation is judged by how it responds in crises. Through decades, Vande Mataram has united Indians against odds. Leaving aside some spells of history, the nation has always united to surmount challenges,” the PM said referring to how farmers fought off food insecurity with the Green Revolution, how the Emergency imposed by the late Indira Gandhi had to be lifted, how the Indian armed forces drove off enemies in wars and how the nation defeated Covid-19 and moved on.

Describing Vande Mataram as the fountainhead of national strength, Modi called for everyone’s support in India’s onward journey along the path to self-reliance and a developed nation by 2047.