Amit Shah links 1937 ‘split’ of Vande Mataram to Partition; Congress hits back
Congress counters with a video arguing the 1937 decision was made on Rabindranath Tagore’s advice,
New Delhi, Dec 9: The division of Vande Mataram song for "politics of appeasement" led to partition of India, Home Minister Amit Shah claimed in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, triggering sharp protests from Opposition benches and a swift counter from the Congress.
Initiating the debate on the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram, Shah said the song, written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, awakened India’s cultural nationalism during the freedom struggle and remains equally relevant today and in the future.
He said the song will continue to inspire the nation’s journey towards Viksit Bharat by 2047.
Shah accused the Congress of questioning the relevance of the debate and alleged that the party attempted to “divide” the song in 1937 by limiting it to only two stanzas.
He specifically targeted India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, accusing him of playing a role in the decision.
“On the 50th anniversary of Vande Mataram in 1937, the Congress government divided it into two and limited it to only the first two stanzas. This was the beginning of appeasement politics,” Shah said amid uproar from Opposition members.
He went on to claim that had the song not been divided, “India would also not have been partitioned.”
The Home Minister also rejected Opposition allegations that the debate was driven by the upcoming West Bengal elections.
“Some people are saying Vande Mataram is being discussed because elections are approaching in Bengal. By doing this, they are trying to reduce the sanctity of the national song,” Shah said.
He described Vande Mataram as the “mantra of India’s awakening,” quoting Maharshi Aurobindo, and said the song unified the nation from Kashmir to Kanyakumari despite colonial attempts to ban it.
Responding to Shah’s remarks, the Congress sought to counter his narrative by citing historian Sugata Bose.
Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh, on Tuesday, shared a video clip of Bose on microblogging site, stating that the 1937 decision was taken on the advice of Rabindranath Tagore, not out of political appeasement.
In the video, Bose said that Subhas Chandra Bose and Nehru jointly consulted Tagore on the issue during the All India Congress Committee meeting held in Calcutta in October–November 1937.
“It was on Rabindranath Tagore’s advice that the Congress decided only the first part of Vande Mataram would be sung at national meetings,” Bose, a noted historian, can be seen saying in the video.
According to the historian, Tagore had expressed concern that certain portions of the song could create religious tensions and believed that limiting it would help preserve unity and harmony within the nationalist movement.
In the video, Bose added that the year 1937 marked a period of convergence within the Congress leadership, eventually leading to Subhas Chandra Bose becoming party president in 1938 with Mahatma Gandhi’s support.
The political war of words highlighted deep divisions over the interpretation of historical decisions surrounding Vande Mataram, even as Parliament marked 150 years of the iconic national song that played a central role in India’s freedom movement.
PTI