The division of 'Vande Mataram' song for "politics of appeasement" led to partition of India, Home Minister Amit Shah said in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, as he slammed Opposition for linking the debate on 150 years of the national song with the upcoming West Bengal elections.
Initiating the debate in the House, Shah said Vande Mataram was the "mantra" that awakened India's cultural nationalism, and remains as relevant today as it was during the freedom struggle.
He stressed that the song will remain relevant in the days to come as well, in taking the country towards Viksit Bharat.
Shah also attacked Congress for questioning the need for a debate on Vande Mataram, and accused first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru of "dividing" the poem and limiting it to two stanzas.
"Yesterday some MPs in the Lok Sabha questioned what is the need to discuss Vande Mataram. The need for discussion...was as relevant when the song was written, during the freedom movement, today, and will be as relevant in 2047 when the Viksit Bharat would be achieved," Shah said.
"Some people are saying Vande Mataram is being discussed because elections are coming in West Bengal... They are trying to reduce the importance of Vande Mataram by linking it with Bengal elections," he said.
The home minister urged members to take the spirit of the message of Vande Mataram to the youth of the nation.
He said the song was written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in Bengal, but it spread across the nation, and became the chant for India's freedom struggle.
The home minister said the song was written years after India tolerated "Islamic attacks", and the British tried to impose a new culture on the country.
"The song reestablished the culture of witnessing nation as a mother. Even though the (British) government tried to ban it, and people were beaten and jailed for chanting Vande Mataram, it touched people's hearts and spread from Kashmir to Kanyakumari," he said.
That is why Maharshi Aurobindo said Vande Mataram is the mantra of India's awakening.
"India is the only nation whose boundaries have not been decided by any act, its borders have been decided by our culture, and culture has united it. That is why the idea of cultural nationalism, this cultural nationalism was awakened by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay," Shah added.
He also accused the Congress and Nehru of 'dividing' the song.
"Many members of Congress questioned why the discussion on Vande Mataram was required, calling it a diversionary tactic. We are not scared of taking up any debate. We do not stall Parliament, we have nothing to hide, we are ready to discuss any issue," Shah said.
"On the 50th anniversary of Vande Mataram in 1937, Jawaharlal Nehru divided it into two and limited it to two stanzas. This was the way Congress honoured Vande Mataram," he said, leading to protests from Opposition MPs.
Shah called it the beginning of appeasement politics, and said it led to partition of India.
"If they had not divided the song into two for appeasement politics, India would also not have been partitioned," he said, leading to more uproars from Opposition benches.
Shah added that in the 100th year of Vande Mataram, the country was under Emergency.
Hitting back at Shah, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, of insulting Jawaharlal Nehru, as he said the decision to use only the first two stanzas of 'Vande Mataram' as the national song was collectively taken by leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore.
The Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Kharge countered the ruling party, saying that Congress leaders have always been chanting 'Vande Mataram'.
Speaking just after Home Minister Amit Shah attacked Congress, alleging that the politics of appeasement was behind the decision to use only two stanzas of the poem as the national song, Kharge started his address, raising the slogan 'Vande Mataram'.
"We have always been singing Vande Mataram. But those who did not sing Vande Mataram have also started singing it now. It is the power of Vande Mataram. It is a national festival, not a debate.
"When the non-cooperation movement was started in 1921, Congress members were going to jail chanting Vande Mataram... What were you doing? You were working for the British," Kharge said.
"You are teaching patriotism to us? You were scared of patriotism and were serving the British. PM Modi leaves no opportunity to insult Jawaharlal Nehru, nor does the Home Minister... I heard the Prime Minister blamed Nehru for stanzas being removed..."
Kharge said the resolution to sing only two stanzas of the poem, which was passed by the Congress working committee, was not done by Nehru alone, and leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Madan Mohan Malaviya, and Acharya JB Kripalani were present.
The Congress president also quoted Tagore, who said he found "no difficulty" in dissociating the first two stanzas of the poem with the rest of the song.
"You are insulting all these tall leaders. It was their combined decision. Why do you target Nehruji alone?" he said.
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