150 years on, 'Vande Mataram' in eye of storm; Amit Shah urges Congress MPs to engage in debate

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s ‘Vande Mataram’, originally titled ‘Bande Mataram’, is in the eye of the storm again; this time it’s a debate in the parliament. The national song has completed 150 years, and on Tuesday (Dec 9), Home Minister Amit Shah was seen discussing the matter and also urging Congress MPs to engage. He said, “Congress MPs are questioning the need for having discussions on Vande Mataram and calling it a political strategy and a way of diverting from the issues. Nobody is scared of discussions on issues. We are not the ones boycotting the Parliament. If they want to discuss, they need to stop boycotting, and all discussions will take place.”

Yesterday, in the house, PM Modi said that the original poem by Chatterjee was truncated because it was said to “irritate Muslims,” after Muhammad Ali Jinnah raised a slogan against the song on 15 October 1937 in Lucknow. It was brought down to stanzas. “Instead of giving a response to the Muslim League's baseless statements, Nehru started investigating Vande Mataram. Five days after this, Nehru wrote a letter to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose mentioning that he agrees with the feeling of Mohammad Ali Jinnah and wrote, 'Vande Mataram's background in the Anand Math can irritate Muslims,” PM Modi continued.