The row over the alleged bid to stop full rendition of the national song ‘Vande Mataram’ at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi on Independence Day is intensifying as BJP leaders on Sunday lodged a formal complaint against Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi at the Urwa Police Station in Karnataka.
Another complaint was filed with the Delhi Police seeking registration of an FIR against Sonia and Rahul Gandhi over alleged obstruction during the singing of Vande Mataram. The complaint, filed by an advocate, was submitted at the IP Estate police station on Sunday.
In Bengaluru, the BJP Yuva Morcha lodged a complaint at the Malleshwaram police station regarding the alleged insult and sought legal action.
The political controversy began when visuals from the August 15 event showed senior Congress leaders speaking among themselves while the National Song was being recited. BJP leaders alleged that the conduct amounted to disrespect towards the national song, while the Congress rejected the charge and said there was no attempt to stop the rendition.
BJP MP Manoj Tiwari accused the Congress leadership of showing disrespect towards the National Song and targeted Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. “Yesterday, the Congress revealed its true face to the country and the world. They harbour such hatred for ‘Vande Mataram’... You saw how uncomfortable Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge became yesterday the moment the full version of ‘Vande Mataram’ was played... When they saw it had been recorded on camera, they tried to give explanations,” Tiwari told news agency ANI.
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The controversy also drew a sharp attack from Union home minister Amit Shah, who raised the issue at a rally in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan.
Shah alleged that Sonia had asked party workers to stop the rendition. He said, “Sonia ji, 140 crore people are watching you. This sin you have committed will never be forgiven by the people of this country.”
The Congress has maintained that there was no attempt to stop the full version of Vande Mataram and that Sonia Gandhi was only trying to ensure proper arrangements at the event, including asking for a chair for Kharge, who had been standing.
‘Entire Bengal fuming’: CM Suvendu Adhikari slams Sonia
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday slammed Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi over the controversy surrounding the recitation of Vande Mataram at the Congress headquarters on Independence Day, and said, “Entire Bengal is fuming, Congress must apologise.”
Adhikari also accused the Congress of indulging in appeasement politics. “It’s appeasement politics, Cong trying to please a particular vote bank,” he said while further adding that it’s an insult to nationalism, and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.
Bankim Chandra’s descendant demands Sonia’s apology
BJP MLA Umitro Chatterjee, a direct descendant of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, sought an unconditional apology from Sonia Gandhi, saying he wrote as “an ordinary citizen, a patriot” and descendant of the song’s author, expressing “deep pain, emptiness, and anger”.
Invoking Sri Aurobindo’s description of Vande Mataram as the “religion of patriotism”, he cited its role in India’s freedom movement and its association with leaders including Khudiram Bose, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Rabindranath Tagore.
In a first for Independence Day celebrations, ‘Vande Mataram’, with the full six stanzas, was rendered at the Red Fort complex on August 15.
