‘Blaming Nehru on Vande Mataram is by aiming at Bengal election’: Mallikarjun Kharge lashes out

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not miss any chance to shame Jawaharlal Nehru, said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. He also said that the government is conducting controversial discussions on Vande Mataram by aiming at the Bengal election. Kharge was responding to the allegations raised by the Prime Minister, as significant parts of Vande Mataram had been removed by Congress under Nehru. The resolution instructing to sing only the first two lines of Vande Mataram was passed by the Congress working committee, and it did not consist only of Nehru, said Kharge.

‘The Prime Minister is not missing any opportunity to humiliate Jawaharlal Nehru. Prime Minister accused the Congress party, under the leadership of Nehru, of removing key parts of Vande Mataram. In 1937, the Congress working committee unanimously passed a resolution. That was the resolution recommending to sing only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram in the national events. This resolution was passed by the Congress working committee members, including Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Was Nehru alone in the Congress committee? Why are you targeting him like this?’ Kharge asked.

Kharge said that Vande Mataram is the slogan of independence, and when the non-cooperation movement began, lakhs of Congress freedom fighters went to jail singing Vande Mataram. He also told the ruling bench that some were working for the British in the meantime.