Photo: ANI Screengrab
NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday was seen having a meal with his parliament colleagues in the Parliament canteen.Shah was joined by Union MoS Nityanand Rai, Union minsiter Kiren Rijiju and BJP MP Anil Baluni.In the clip, the leaders could be seen having Indian cuisine over some seemingly light-hearted discussion. Earlier in the day, initiating the debate in Rajya Sabha, Amit Shah said the division of ‘Vande Mataram’ song for “politics of appeasement” led to partition of India. He slammed Opposition for linking the debate on 150 years of the national song with the upcoming West Bengal elections.Shah said Vande Mataram was the “mantra” that awakened India’s cultural nationalism, and remains as relevant today as it was during the freedom struggle.He stressed that the song will remain relevant in the days to come as well, in taking the country towards Viksit Bharat.Shah also attacked Congress for questioning the need for a debate on Vande Mataram, and accused first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru of “dividing” the poem and limiting it to two stanzas.”Yesterday some MPs in the Lok Sabha questioned what is the need to discuss Vande Mataram. The need for discussion…was as relevant when the song was written, during the freedom movement, today, and will be as relevant in 2047 when the Viksit Bharat would be achieved,” Shah said.”Some people are saying Vande Mataram is being discussed because elections are coming in West Bengal… They are trying to reduce the importance of Vande Mataram by linking it with Bengal elections,” he said.The home minister urged members to take the spirit of the message of Vande Mataram to the youth of the nation.He said the song was written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in Bengal, but it spread across the nation, and became the chant for India’s freedom struggle.The home minister said the song was written years after India tolerated “Islamic attacks”, and the British tried to impose a new culture on the country.