Vande Mataram row: Bankim Chandra's descendant seeks Sonia Gandhi's apology

West Bengal BJP MLA Sumitro Chatterjee, a direct descendant of renowned poet Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, on Sunday demanded an unconditional apology from Congress leader Sonia Gandhi for allegedly disrespecting Vande Mataram.

In a letter written to Gandhi, he claimed there was “discomfort” and “repeated attempts” to stop the singing of the full version of Vande Mataram at a function held at the AICC headquarters in Delhi on Independence Day on Saturday.

Chatterjee wrote that while the country was observing the 80th anniversary of Independence, “when the entire nation is devoted to the worship of the Motherland”, the events at the All India Congress Committee headquarters were “not merely unfortunate, but a shameless repetition of a historical mistake”.

He said that when Congress workers were singing the full version of Vande Mataram, he was deeply distressed by what he described as Sonia Gandhi’s “visible discomfort, displeasure and repeated attempts to stop it”.

Chatterjee termed Gandhi's alleged reluctance to fully recite Vande Mataram an "insult" to the sacrifices of martyrs such as Khudiram Bose.

West Bengal Chief Minister and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari also sought an apology from the Congress over the matter.

He said the entire state was “fuming” owing to the incident, and claimed that the Congress was “trying to satisfy a particular vote bank”, calling it appeasement politics.

However, the Congress has denied that there was any attempt to stop the singing of the full version of Vande Mataram. The party said Gandhi was only asking for a chair for Kharge.

The BJP MLA from Naihati also highlighted the song's role in India's freedom movement, referring to Rabindranath Tagore's rendition of Vande Mataram at the 1896 Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress, and Sarala Devi Chaudhurani's recitation at the 1905 Benares Congress session.