Mallikarjun Kharge did not mince words as he delivered a sharp retort to Home Minister Amit Shah, who had criticised the Congress over an alleged insult to Vande Mataram, by reminding him that Shah was still a child when he first became an MLA.
“Amit Shah speaks against our Madam Sonia Gandhi, he speaks against the Gandhi family. When I first became an MLA, Amit Shah was a child, and today he’s teaching us patriotism,” Kharge, the 84-year-old Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said at a public rally in Goa on Monday.
The criticism follows 61-year-old Amit Shah’s allegation that, during the Independence Day programme at the Congress headquarters, Sonia Gandhi asked for Vande Mataram to be stopped midway through the song.
In its defence, the Congress maintained that Sonia Gandhi had only been asking for a chair for M Kharge and added that the full version of Vande Mataram was sung. The party also cited history to argue that Rabindranath Tagore had suggested that only the first few stanzas of the song be sung.
Written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and later included in his novel Anandamath, Vande Mataram emerged as one of the most powerful symbols of India’s freedom struggle. However, the song’s later stanzas became controversial because of their religious imagery. Following the 1937 provincial elections, the Congress adopted only the first two stanzas for public use amid concerns over the acceptability of the complete composition among different religious communities. The debate surrounding the song continues to reflect broader political and social differences.
In a historic first, the full version of the National Song Vande Mataram was played during the 80th Independence Day celebrations led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the historic Red Fort on Saturday. The year 2026 marks the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram.
Recently, the complete version of Vande Mataram was accorded the same legal protection as the National Anthem.
“Our people fought for the country’s independence. You fought too? Tell me, which BJP person fought for this country’s independence? Which RSS person fought for this country’s independence? And you lecture us about patriotism?” Kharge said.
Kharge alleged that the BJP had no moral authority to question the patriotism of Congress leaders.
