NEW DELHI: A special discussion may have been held on 150 years of Vande Mataram on Monday, but the Bengal assembly elections - scheduled next year - took centre stage as slogans like "Bihar ki jeet hamari hai, ab Bengal ki baari hai" were raised by NDA MPs in the Parliament as Prime Minister Narendra Modi entered the House to initiate the debate.
During the 10-hour discussion, while the ruling party invoked the Bengal partition and Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's legacy, the opposition accused the ruling party of holding the special discussion for its poll prospects in West Bengal.
While opening the discussion in Lok Sabha, the Prime Minister recalled how Vande Mataram had become synonymous with India’s struggle against colonial rule.
“When they divided Bengal in 1905, Vande Mataram stood like a rock,” he said, adding that “Vande Mataram also showed India the path to self-reliance. Back then, from matchboxes to large ships, ‘Vande Mataram’ was written as a tradition.
"It became a means to challenge foreign companies and emerged as a slogan of the Swadeshi movement,” he added.
PM Modi also launched a fierce attack on the Congress, accusing the party of repeatedly compromising on the national song — from the freedom movement to the years after Independence.
PM Modi said that the Congress convened a session in “Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's Bengal” to review the use of Vande Mataram — a reference to a Congress Working Committee meeting in Kolkata (then Calcutta) in 1937 on the matter. They “partitioned” Vande Mataram in 1937, PM Modi said, speaking in Hindi — “tukde kar diye” — and linked the party's “appeasement politics” to what led to the partition of India in 1947.
He described the song as something far deeper than a political chant. “Vande Mataram was not just a mantra for political independence. It was not limited to our independence; it was way beyond that. The freedom movement was a war to free our motherland from the clutches of slavery... During our Vedas, it was said: This land is my mother, and I am the son of the soil.”
During the discussion, PM Modi was also interrupted by TMC's Sugata Roy for referring Bankim Chandra Chaterjee as 'Bankim Da' and not 'Bankim Babu.'
PM Modi quickly corrected himself and said, “I will say Bankim Babu. Thank you, I respect your sentiments.”
“Can I call you dada, or is that also an issue?” he added.
Meanwhile, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra launched a broadside against the Bharatiya Janata Party and claimed that the only purpose of the special discussion on the national song was to serve the ruling party with poll prospects in the upcoming West Bengal assembly elections.
During her address in the Lok Sabha, Priyanka said that there are two reasons for the debate on the national song in Parliament.
“There are two reasons for the debate on Vande Mataram in the House today. Elections are approaching in Bengal. In such a situation, our esteemed Prime Minister wishes to establish his role.”
“Those who fought the freedom struggle, who made sacrifices for the country — this government seeks an opportunity to level new accusations against them. By doing so, the Modi government wishes to divert the country’s attention from the essential issues concerning the people,” she added.
“You (BJP) are for the elections, we are for the country. No matter how many elections we lose, we will sit here and keep fighting you and your ideology. We will keep fighting for our country. You cannot stop us,” she further said.
Trinamool Congress's Kalyan Banerjee also said the way the Prime Minister addressed author Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was very "disturbing".
"The debate was started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is really, very sorry to say, it was below standard. The debate was for Vande Mataram, not for attacking Jawaharlal Nehru or Indira Gandhi," he said.
"The way he addressed the great author, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, it was really disturbing. Actually, not only Narendra Modi or (home minister) Amit Shah, BJP people are Bengali haters.
"They hate them but under compulsion, one has to tolerate Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, one has to tolerate the Bengalis' fight for freedom, one has to tolerate Rabindranath Tagore, because India has been enriched by Bengalis. They dislike Bengalis.... I cannot call the prime minister Narendra Modi da, my culture does not allow that...," Banerjee added.
Meanwhile, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee also weighed in on the issue and questioned the BJP over its stance on not appreciating freedom fighters.
Addressing a press conference in Kolkata, Banerjee said, "I heard some people from the BJP say that they don't appreciate Netaji. You don't appreciate Netaji, Rabindranath Tagore, Raja Ram Mohan Roy — then who do you appreciate?"
The West Bengal assembly election is due in March–April next year. After sweeping the Bihar polls, PM Modi had listed West Bengal as the “next target” in his speech.
PM Modi had said that the NDA's massive win in Bihar has set the groundwork for a similar performance in neighbouring West Bengal.
"The river Ganga flows to Bengal via Bihar. And the victory in Bihar, like the river, has paved the way for our victory in Bengal," PM Modi had said.
Mamata Banerjee has been in power since 2011 after defeating the Communist government of multiple decades.
The BJP managed to get 77 seats, its highest ever in the state, in the 2021 contest.
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