Jaipur: A political row has erupted in Rajasthan after Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks on Vande Mataram during his visit to Chittorgarh. Former Rajasthan Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot has hit back at Shah, questioning the BJP and RSS’ historical role in the freedom struggle.
Addressing a gathering in Chittorgarh on Sunday, Amit Shah criticised the Congress over an incident at the party’s Delhi headquarters involving Vande Mataram during an Independence Day programme.
HM Shah alleged that Sonia Gandhi signalled to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge to stop the song while it was being sung. He accused the Congress of appeasement and vote-bank politics and said the party should apologise for what he claimed as an attempt to erase Vande Mataram from the history of India’s freedom struggle.
Reacting to Shah’s remarks in a social media post, Gehlot said historians would find the Home Minister’s claims about Vande Mataram “laughable.”
Gehlot argued that the BJP and RSS had no role in the song’s historic place in the freedom movement and accused them of trying to rewrite history after coming to power. He said that speeches or proposed legislation cannot change the historical record.
“The ‘wisdom’ shared by Amit Shah in Chittorgarh reflects his guilt,” Gehlot said, arguing that the BJP and RSS were now invoking Vande Mataram to cover up their alleged absence from key phases of the freedom struggle.
Gehlot highlighted the Congress’ association with Vande Mataram, noting that Rabindranath Tagore sang the song at the 1896 Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress.
Gehlot pointed out that the song subsequently became a regular feature of Congress sessions and an important slogan for freedom fighters facing arrests, lathi-charges and other forms of British repression.
He also referred to the 1937 decision to use an inclusive version of the song, arguing that this was intended to make it acceptable across all religious communities in India.
Gehlot also questioned the RSS’ role between its formation in 1925 and India’s Independence in 1947. He claimed that the RSS did not adopt Vande Mataram as its official song during the freedom struggle and instead developed its own prayer, Namaste Sada Vatsale.
Gehlot further alleged that the organisation remained away from the Quit India Movement of 1942. His broader argument was that the BJP and RSS cannot alter the historical record through political speeches.
Written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and later incorporated into his novel Anandamath, Vande Mataram became one of the most powerful symbols of India’s freedom movement.
The song’s later verses, however, became controversial because of their religious imagery. After the 1937 provincial elections, the Congress adopted the first two stanzas for public use, following concerns about the acceptability of the complete composition among different religious communities in the country.
On January 24, 1950, Constituent Assembly President Rajendra Prasad announced that Jana Gana Mana would be India’s National Anthem, while Vande Mataram would be accorded the status of National Song and receive comparable respect.
The disagreement over the song continues to reflect a larger political divide. The BJP and Sangh Parivar have often portrayed the 1937 decision as an example of the Congress’ appeasement, while the Congress has defended it as an inclusive step intended to preserve national unity.
The latest exchange between Amit Shah and Ashok Gehlot therefore goes beyond the song itself, reopening a long-running political dispute over how India’s freedom struggle should be remembered—and who can claim its legacy.
