BJP committing 'big sin' by creating controversy on Vande Mataram: Priyanka Gandhi

New Delhi: In a measured but scathing attack, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday accused the BJP of committing a "big sin" by creating a controversy over Vande Mataram and claimed that the government pushed for a debate on the national song as the West Bengal assembly polls were approaching.

Participating in a discussion in the Lok Sabha on 150 years of national song Vande Mataram, she hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying "he is not the prime minister he used to be as his self-confidence is decreasing and his policies are weakening the country".

Priyanka Gandhi said the government wanted the debate to divert attention from people's problems and make fresh allegations against those who sacrificed for the country's freedom.

"... Whatever complaints you have against (Jawaharlal) Nehru, whatever mistakes you think he made... if you want to hurl abuses, if you want to insult as much as you like, please make a list of that too... 999 insults, 9,999 insults... make a list, and then we will fix a time.

"Just like we debated for 10 hours today on Vande Mataram, in the same way, we will ask the Speaker, we will fix a time – 10 hours, 20 hours, 40 hours, however many hours it takes for your complaint to be fully addressed," she said.

"Let's close the chapter for once and all. After that, let's talk about today’s issues - price rise and unemployment," she added.

Asserting that Vande Mataram was in the heart of every Indian, she said that by creating divisions and controversy over the national song, the BJP was committing a "big sin" and that the Congress would not be party to it.

Launching a strong defence of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who was repeatedly criticised by treasury bench members during the debate, Priyanka Gandhi said Prime Minister Modi has been the country's PM for about 12 years, while Jawaharlal Nehru had spent as many years in jail for the independence of the country.

"He was then the prime minister for 17 years and if he had not made ISRO, there would not have been your Mangalyaan; if he had not set up the DRDO, Tejas would not have been there; if IITs and IIMs had not been established, then we would not have been ahead in the Information Technology sector.

"If AIIMS had not been formed, we would not have been able to face the COVID pandemic. If he had not made BHEL, SAIL, Bhakra Nangal, then how would Viksit Bharat be achieved," she said.

"Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru lived for this country and breathed his last while serving the country," she said.

Priyanka Gandhi said that though PM Modi gives a good speech, there is one shortcoming that he is "weak on facts".

She alleged that the Vande Mataram debate is being held to divert attention because the government wants to hide the reality of present times and divert attention from the real problems of the people.

"The youth of the country are worried, they are troubled, there are paper leaks happening, there is unemployment, why are we not discussing these issues in the House? Why are we not discussing the tampering with reservations here? Why strong steps are not being taken for improving the situation of women," Priyanka Gandhi said.

The truth is that the rule of this government is one of "suppression", their politics is one of show and "event management" and moving from "election to election", she said.

Vande Mataram resonates in the hearts of soldiers when they face the enemy, it is in the heartbeat of all sports persons when they represent India internationally, it is on the lips of crores of people when they see the tri-colour being hoisted, she said.

In all the sessions of the Congress from 1905 till now, Vande Mataram is sung, but does that happen in BJP conventions, she asked.

The Congress general secretary claimed that by alleging "fragmentation" of 'Vande Mataram', the BJP is accusing the entire Constituent Assembly and holding all its members guilty.

"This is an open attack on our Constituent Assembly and our Constitution," Priyanka Gandhi.

Questioning the form of Vande Mataram, which was accepted by the Constituent Assembly, is an insult to those great souls who took this decision with their great wisdom, she charged.

"It also reveals an anti-Constitution intention. Have the colleagues of the ruling party become so arrogant that they have started considering themselves greater than Mahatma Gandhi ji, Tagore ji, Rajendra Prasad ji, Ambedkar ji, Maulana Azad ji, Sardar Patel ji, Subhash Chandra Bose ji.

"Prime Minister Modi's statement that the national song was fragmented by a divisive mindset is an insult to all those great souls who dedicated their entire lives to the struggle for the country's independence," she said.

She urged people to understand the chronology of Vande Mataram and went on to recall that it was in 1875 that Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote the first two stanzas of this song, which is the national song today. In 1882, seven years later, Chattopadhyay's novel Anandamath was published, and this same song was included in it, with four more stanzas added, he said.

In 1896, at the Congress session, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore sang this song, she said.

In the 1930s, when communal politics emerged in the country, this song began to face controversy, she said.

"Modi ji mentioned a letter in the House, in which he said that on October 20, Nehru ji had written to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. But the Prime Minister did not mention the letter written on October 17, which Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose ji had written to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru ji.

"Netaji had written 'My dear Jawahar, reference to Vande Mataram. We shall have a talk in Kolkata and also discuss the question in the Working Committee, if you bring it up there. I have written to Dr. Tagore to discuss this matter with you when you visit Shantiniketan. Please do not forget to have a talk with him when you visit Shantiniketan," she said.

"On October 20, Nehru had replied to it. PM Modi quoted one line of this reply here, but the rest of what Nehru ji wrote was -- 'There is no doubt that the present outcry against Vande Mataram is to a large extent a manufactured one by the Communalists. Whatever we do, we cannot pander to Communalist feelings'," she said.

She then cited Tagore's letter to Nehru in which he stated that the two stanzas that were always sung held such profound significance that there was no difficulty in separating that part from the rest of the poem and those sections of the book.

She said there was no reason to have a debate on the national song and alleged that "we are having this debate as Bengal polls are coming and the prime minister wants to play his role in that".

The second reason why the government wanted this debate is that it wanted to make fresh allegations against those who fought for the country's freedom and made enormous sacrifices for the country, Priyanka Gandhi alleged.

She claimed, "Prime Minister Modi is not the PM he used to be; it is showing that his self-confidence is decreasing and his policies are weakening the country.

"My friends in the government are silent because deep inside they also know this."