Overview
- Speaking in the Upper House on the song’s 150th anniversary, Ramesh argued the ruling side is politicizing history and targeting Jawaharlal Nehru and Rabindranath Tagore.
- He cited letters and records from 1937, including Rajendra Prasad’s note to Sardar Patel and exchanges involving Subhas Chandra Bose and Tagore, to say the CWC debated and resolved the matter.
- Quoting scholarly works, he referenced Sabyasachi Bhattacharya’s history of Vande Mataram and a Bibek Debroy translation to broaden the historical context.
- To counter ‘appeasement’ charges, he pointed to episodes involving Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s coalitions, L. K. Advani’s 2005 remarks in Karachi, and Jaswant Singh’s 2009 book to allege inconsistency by BJP figures.
- The debate follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that Nehru, under pressure from Mohammad Ali Jinnah in 1937, removed stanzas, as Congress MPs decry the focus as a distraction from economic concerns and no legislative outcome has emerged.