New Delhi, Dec 8: Opposition MPs lashed out at the government on Monday over the “Vande Mataram” debate in the Lok Sabha, calling it an attempt at diverting attention and dividing the country.
Some of them also claimed that the debate was started keeping in mind next year’s West Bengal Assembly polls.
Commenting on the debate, Congress leader Husain Dalwai said it was an attempt to divert attention.
“To divert people’s attention, the government is raising the issue of Vande Mataram, so that it is not questioned on key issues,” he said.
Communist Party of India (CPI) MP P Sandosh called it an attempt to divide people.
“The sole intention of the BJP is to divide the people further. They want to make it about the Bengal election. Do they have faith in India’s independence movement and did they take part in it?” he asked.
“Bengal is a hotspot for them, which is why they also organised the Gita Mahasammelan. We will take part in the discussion. Let us wait and watch the content of the prime minister’s speech, that will tell the real story,” the Left leader said.
Trinamool Congress’s Kalyan Banerjee said the way Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed author Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was very “disturbing”.
“The debate was started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is really, very sorry to say, it was below standard. The debate was for Vande Mataram, not for attacking Jawaharlal Nehru or Indira Gandhi,” he said.
“The way he addressed the great author, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, it was really disturbing. Actually, not only Narendra Modi or (Home Minister) Amit Shah, BJP people are Bengali haters.
“They hate them but under compulsion, one has to tolerate Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, one has to tolerate the Bengalis’ fight for freedom, one has to tolerate Rabindranath Tagore, because India has been enriched by Bengalis. They dislike Bengalis…. I cannot call the prime minister Narendra Modi da, my culture does not allow that…,” Banerjee added.
Jothimani of the Congress said the government has brought the debate to divert attention from real issues.
“This is the 150th year of Vande Mataram. We, the people of India, especially the Congress party, are proud of it because we held the slogan high, and a generation of people from the Congress, the Muslim League, other organisations and ordinary citizens sacrificed their lives for it…. The reason this debate is being brought to the floor of Parliament is that the government is in crisis,” she said.
“We have seen the IndiGo fiasco unfold across airports, with heartbreaking scenes caused by government policies, which have severely affected the middle class and others who want to travel by air,” she said.
Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs, meanwhile, accused the Congress of “compromising” on Vande Mataram under pressure from the Muslim League.
“The Congress compromised on Vande Mataram under pressure from the Muslim League,” BJP MP Manoj Tiwari claimed.
BJP MP Ghulam Ali Khatana also spoke on similar lines.
“If it had been respected equally as the national anthem, the situation would have been different. If the Congress had portrayed its positive meaning in the past, the nation would not have been divided,” he said.
Initiating the debate on the “150th anniversary of national song Vande Mataram”, Modi on Monday said Nehru, the first prime minister of the country, betrayed Vande Mataram by echoing Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s communal concerns and fragmenting the national song that put India on the path of politics of appeasement, leading to its Partition.
Modi highlighted how Vande Mataram inspired the nation, energised the freedom struggle and became a symbol of national resolve, which prompted Mahatma Gandhi to liken it to the national anthem.(PTI)
