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NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi will initiate a discussion on Monday in Lok Sabha on the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram, in what will be an extension of the increasingly fiery ideological battle between BJP and its opponents over the journey of India’s national song, a rallying cry during the Congress-led freedom struggle, but whose evocative cultural theme is central to the governing party’s political idiom.Defence minister Rajnath Singh from BJP and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Gaurav Gogoi of Congress will be speaking on the issue, which has long animated BJP’s base steeped in cultural nationalism.Ten hours each have been assigned for the debate in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, where it is scheduled for Tuesday and home minister Amit Shah will be BJP’s main speaker.Sparks seemed set to fly, with BJP sources saying many important and unknown facets related to Vande Mataram will be brought before the nation during the discussion, signalling the party’s determined bid to put Congress in a dock over the patriotic song, which is interwoven with India’s freedom struggle.Congress has, on the other hand, cited Rabindranath Tagore’s support for pruning of the immortal composition to two stanzas to defend Jawaharlal Nehru who accepted it because of both difficulty in understanding the stanzas following the first two, and objections of Muslims.Modi had recently set the tone of the discussion by accusing Congress of dropping in 1937 the stanzas of the song written by noted Bengali writer Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, saying it sowed the seeds of Partition and that such a divisive mindset remains a challenge to the country. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra claimed Sunday Nehru’s “reality” will be exposed during the debate. He also cited historical text to train guns at Nehru, noting the first PM had contended that Vande Mataram’s association with Anandmath, a novel written by Chatterjee, is likely to”irritate” Muslims and that he found the song’s language difficult to understand.Chatterjee’s association with the song and its strong endorsement by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose will come handy for BJP in its bid to put TMC on the defensive on the issue of Bengali identity as it prepares for the assembly polls in West Bengal, slated to be held next year.Congress and other BJP rivals like TMC and Samajwadi Party may turn to the alleged indifference of BJP’s ideological mentor RSS to the freedom struggle, besides the stand of Hindutva figures on some of the symbols of Indian nationalism at that time to target the government.Muslim League’s strident opposition to Vande Mataram because of its evocative Hindu cultural themes, including reverential reference to deities, had led to the song’s adoption to its first two paras by Congress, the trigger behind Modi’s recent attack on the party. The opposition party, however, argued it was done on Tagore’s suggestions. Several orthodox Muslim bodies and politicians have, however, remained critical of the song.The debate will be followed by a discussion in both Houses on “election reforms”, a broader term to cover what will be essentially a war of words between the government and opposition parties over the SIR of electoral rolls.
