Overview
- Uttara Kannada MP Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri said Jana Gana Mana was written to welcome the British and argued Vande Mataram should have been the anthem.
- Speaking at an event in Honnavara, Kageri said there had been a strong chorus for Vande Mataram and urged wider singing of the song by students.
- Congress minister Priyank Kharge countered that Rabindranath Tagore wrote Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata in 1911 and its first stanza later became Jana Gana Mana.
- Kharge noted the song was first sung on December 27, 1911, at an Indian National Congress session in Calcutta and referenced Tagore’s 1937 and 1939 clarifications rejecting links to British monarchs.
- Congress criticized the remarks as “WhatsApp history,” as the row unfolds alongside nationwide commemorations for Vande Mataram that include a Delhi event scheduled to feature Prime Minister Narendra Modi.