Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the Lok Sabha debate commemorating 150 years of Vande Mataram to launch a sweeping critique of the Congress’s historical stance on the national song. Speaking on Monday during a special discussion, Modi accused India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, of aligning with Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s objections to Vande Mataram and of bending to communal considerations at a critical moment in India’s freedom movement.

The Prime Minister said Nehru had expressed concerns in a 1930s letter to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, claiming that Vande Mataram might “provoke and irritate Muslims” and that its usage should be re-examined. Modi noted the irony of such caution given that the song originated in Bengal, the land of its creator Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, where it became a powerful symbol of anti-colonial resistance.

Modi maintained that Congress’s approach to the national song reflected a recurrent pattern of political compromise. He also connected this historical debate to the imposition of the Emergency by Indira Gandhi in 1975. At the time Vande Mataram completed a century, Modi said, India’s democratic Constitution “was throttled” and patriots were imprisoned. He argued that this 150-year milestone offers an opportunity to reclaim the dignity and significance of the song, which, in his view, had been undermined during key moments by the Congress.

Calling Vande Mataram the “mantra” that fueled India’s freedom struggle, Modi reminded the House that the British banned its printing and circulation because it had become a unifying symbol of resistance. After the 1857 uprising, he said, the British tried to impose “God Save the Queen” across Indian households, prompting Bankim Chandra to compose Vande Mataram as a powerful literary and political response. Even the 1905 partition of Bengal could not break the song’s ability to inspire solidarity.

The Prime Minister revisited a long-running political controversy: the Congress Working Committee’s 1937 decision to approve only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram for official use. These stanzas, which emphasize praise of the motherland, were widely considered less religiously charged than later verses referring to Hindu goddesses such as Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati. Modi said this “half-acceptance” planted the early seeds of division that ultimately contributed to the Partition. The Congress has historically rejected that interpretation, arguing that Nehru considered the lyrics “harmless” and urged that they not be read through a sectarian lens.

Modi’s remarks also tied the current commemoration to broader national milestones, including 75 years of the Indian Constitution, the 150th birth anniversaries of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Birsa Munda, and the 350th martyrdom anniversary of Guru Tegh Bahadur. According to him, observing 150 years of Vande Mataram in Parliament carries a historic weight that places it among the most significant commemorative moments of independent India.

In closing, Modi said it was “a great privilege” for the nation’s lawmakers to celebrate the enduring legacy of the national song in the halls of Parliament, and urged that its greatness be fully restored as part of India’s ongoing cultural and political narrative.