Overview
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the special Lok Sabha discussion by lauding the song’s role in the freedom struggle and recalling British bans and the Emergency-era centenary.
- Modi accused the Congress and Jawaharlal Nehru of accepting a curtailed version in 1937, citing Nehru’s letter to Subhas Chandra Bose and arguing the move set the stage for Partition.
- The Opposition countered that the government is politicising a national symbol, with Congress leaders saying the 1937 decision followed Rabindranath Tagore’s advice to address interfaith concerns.
- Parliament has allotted 10 hours for the debate across both Houses, with the NDA given three hours in the Lok Sabha, and Amit Shah scheduled to open the Rajya Sabha discussion on Tuesday.
- The song was written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 1875 and later honoured as the national song, though the Constitution formally names only Jana Gana Mana as the national anthem.