BJP’s newly appointed national general secretary Smriti Irani on Friday criticised the Congress over the Vande Mataram controversy, questioning the party’s authority to decide whether the national song should receive the same respect as Jana Gana Mana. She pointed out that India’s first President, Rajendra Prasad, had stated in the Constituent Assembly in 1950 that Vande Mataram should be accorded equal respect.
In an exclusive interview with India Today, Irani asked whether Sonia Gandhi could disregard legislation after Parliament had taken a position on the issue.
“Are you telling me that once the Parliament of India opines on a particular issue and legislates on it, Sonia Gandhi has the unique right in this country to throw that legislation in the dustbin of time?” she asked.
Referring to a video showing Sonia Gandhi speaking animatedly with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at the party headquarters on Independence Day while Vande Mataram was being played, Irani questioned whether Gandhi objected to the references to Hindu deities in the song’s later stanzas.
“So what is it that Mrs Gandhi has a problem with -- Maa Bharati or Goddess Durga?” she asked.
The controversy began after the Independence Day programme at the Congress headquarters, following which party general secretary KC Venugopal said the Congress would continue singing only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram at its events, citing a 1937 resolution of the Congress Working Committee.
The party’s position came despite a recent Ministry of Home Affairs directive requiring all six stanzas of Vande Mataram to be sung at government events and schools before Jana Gana Mana.
Irani said the full version of Vande Mataram depicts Maa Bharati as a source of knowledge, strength and nourishment and as an embodiment of Rashtra Dharma. She also pointed to references to Maa Bhagwati, described as a ten-armed deity.
Questioning the Congress’s position, she asked whether Sonia Gandhi or the party objected to Maa Bharati being portrayed as a symbol of knowledge and power. She also questioned whether the references to Goddess Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati were an issue for the party or whether it believed they could create a conflict with another religion.
“So what is it that Mrs Gandhi has a problem with -- Maa Bharti or Goddess Durga?” Irani repeated.
She also questioned the Congress’s decision to adhere to the 1937 CWC resolution, arguing that those who opposed Vande Mataram and chose Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s path eventually left India and helped create Pakistan. Those who remained in India, she said, recognised Vande Mataram as a “war cry” of the freedom movement that extended beyond Congress members.
Irani questioned the Congress’s claim over the national song, arguing that even members of the Gandhi family had not always been associated with the Congress and asking how the party could now claim the authority to determine how Vande Mataram should be treated.
She also referred to decisions taken by the Congress under Jawaharlal Nehru and cited an exchange between Nehru and Jinnah involving Jinnah’s 14-point demands. Irani alleged that records from the Nehru Archives showed Nehru responding to Jinnah’s demand concerning cow slaughter in 1938.
She then questioned whether Sonia Gandhi supported the idea of legitimising cow slaughter in India and whether such a position could be advocated from the Congress headquarters.
Irani also referred to the 1923 Congress session in Kakinada, where she said Jinnah had opposed the singing of Vande Mataram. According to her, a Marathi singer at the session stood up to Jinnah, arguing that the gathering was a national platform and that Vande Mataram should be sung.
She questioned whether the Marathi singer had demonstrated greater courage in confronting Jinnah than Nehru had.
Asked what the government would do if the Congress continued following the 1937 CWC resolution and restricted itself to the first two stanzas, Irani said such a move would represent “a complete disregard for national sentiment” and “a complete disregard for the sentiments of Hindus.”
She further questioned the Congress’s record, asking, “Has the Congress party ever insulted any other religion except Hinduism?”
