Overview
- Union home minister Amit Shah led the Rajya Sabha debate on December 9, alleging that during the Emergency those who voiced Vande Mataram were jailed and newspapers were censored.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened the Lok Sabha discussion on December 8, accusing Congress of ‘fragmenting’ the song in 1937 and citing Jawaharlal Nehru’s letter to Subhas Chandra Bose warning it could ‘irritate Muslims.’
- The BJP cast the 150th year as a chance to restore the song’s place in national life, asserting that British authorities once punished its singing and printing.
- Congress and INDIA bloc leaders pushed back, with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra calling the debate a diversion and Gaurav Gogoi defending the party’s record by noting Tagore first sang the song at the 1896 Congress session and the Constituent Assembly’s acceptance.
- Parliament allotted 10 hours for debate in each House, and exchanges ran late into the night as leaders invoked figures from Gandhi to Tagore and argued over history ahead of polls in West Bengal.