The Lok Sabha today saw a strong debate on the 150th anniversary of India’s national song, Vande Mataram.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra questioned why such a debate was even needed, saying the song already lives in the heart of every Indian.

She accused the government of raising this issue only because assembly elections are coming up in West Bengal and said the ruling party wants people to look at the past instead of focusing on real issues of the present and the future.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking earlier in the House, claimed that the Congress had “partitioned” Vande Mataram by removing some lines under pressure from the Muslim League before Independence.

He said Jawaharlal Nehru had agreed with Muhammad Ali Jinnah in 1937 that parts of the hymn might “irritate Muslims”, and this showed what he called the Congress’s “appeasement politics”. He said this mentality contributed to the Partition of India.

Priyanka Gandhi strongly countered these claims. She said the Prime Minister was selectively quoting Nehru and ignoring important facts.

To support her point, she read from letters exchanged between Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose and Rabindranath Tagore.

She said Nehru had described the controversy around Vande Mataram as “manufactured by communalists”. She also quoted Tagore, who wrote that only the first two stanzas were traditionally sung during the freedom struggle and that these stanzas carried the real spirit of the national movement.

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Tagore had said the later stanzas could be interpreted as communal in the political atmosphere of that time, and therefore, it was proper to keep only the two original stanzas.

DMK leader A. Raja supported Priyanka Gandhi’s stand and said Nehru had recognised that some groups had genuine concerns, but most of the outcry was artificially created.

He also reminded the House that on 28 October 1937, the Congress Working Committee had officially declared Vande Mataram as the national song.

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This year marks 150 years of Vande Mataram, which was written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and first published on November 7, 1875 in the journal Bangadarshan.

It was later included in his novel Anandamath and set to tune by Rabindranath Tagore. During the freedom movement, the song became a powerful symbol of patriotism and a rallying cry for thousands of nationalists.