Congress hits back at Shah over Vande Mataram row, accuses him of diverting attention

The Congress on Sunday hit back at Home Minister Amit Shah after he demanded the opposition party's apology for allegedly insulting "Vande Mataram", saying he is doing this to divert attention away from "the colossal failures of his and his Sahib's".

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh slammed Shah as someone who insulted B R Ambedkar on the floor of the Rajya Sabha on December 17, 2024, and who belongs to an ideology that did not see fit to unfurl the tricolour at its organisation's headquarters till January 2002.

"A man who insulted Dr Ambedkar on the floor of the Rajya Sabha on Dec 17, 2024. A man who belongs to an ideology that did not see fit to unfurl the tiranga at its headquarters till Jan 2002. A man who orchestrated the Delhi Police's brutalities on peacefully protesting youth.

"Such a man is now demanding an apology from the Congress to divert attention away from the real issues of the day and away from the colossal failures of his and his Sahib's," Ramesh said in a post on X.

His remarks came after Shah accused the Congress of insulting the national song, "Vande Mataram", and demanded that the party apologise to people and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, who wrote the song.

Congress's media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said when lathis rained down for chanting "Vande Mataram", it was the Congress that had sounded the bugle of freedom through this song.

"At that time, people associated with the Sangh either fled with their tails tucked between their legs or wagged their tails to please their British masters," Khera said.

Several Congress leaders also shared on social media Ramesh's speech in the Rajya Sabha on December 10, 2025, during a debate marking 150 years of "Vande Mataram".

Participating in the debate, Ramesh had accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of distorting history and insulting freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for the country.

"Those who have spoken from the other side have proved.... They wanted to be historians, but they have become 'distorions'," Ramesh had said in the Rajya Sabha.

He had given details of letters exchanged between people, such as Subhas Chandra Bose, Rabindranath Tagore, Rajendra Prasad and Jawaharlal Nehru, over "Vande Mataram".

"Rajendra Prasad wrote to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on September 28, 1937, raising concerns and worries prevalent in large sections of our political system on Vande Mataram, and requesting Patel that the Congress Working Committee (CWC) take a stand. Was it appeasement? Are you accusing Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Patel of appeasement?" Ramesh had asked the ruling party members.

"On October 28, 1937, the CWC passed a resolution on Vande Mataram.... Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Vallabhbhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Azad, Acharya Kripalani, G B Pant.... They were all present," he had said.

Ramesh had pointed out that Tagore had advised the CWC in October 1937 that it pass a resolution to adopt the first two stanzas of "Vande Mataram", which were later adopted as the national song.

The Congress leader said a communal environment was created in 1937.

"Many organisations were responsible.... One of those is celebrating its centenary now. It spread communal fire and today, it tells us that the Congress did appeasement," he had said, taking a swipe at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Ramesh had also accused the ruling party of insulting Tagore and said, "Why is the government making this Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay versus Tagore? It wanted to insult Nehru, but ended up insulting Tagore."

Addressing a public meeting in Rajasthan's Chittorgarh on Sunday, Shah alleged that during the Independence Day programme at the Congress headquarters, party leader Sonia Gandhi asked "Vande Mataram" to be stopped midway through the song.

Referring to the Independence Day celebrations held on Saturday, the home minister said after 80 years of Independence, "Vande Mataram" was sung at the Red Fort and all other places where flag hoisting was held.

"Thousands of people faced bullets and lathis and were jailed for singing Vande Mataram," Shah said, referring to the use of the revolutionary slogan during the freedom struggle.

He alleged that during the Independence Day programme at the Congress headquarters in Delhi, Gandhi asked the party president to stop the song midway.

"We all saw it on television," Shah said, adding that Gandhi should apologise to people and Chattopadhyay's immortal soul.

"If there is any shame left, you should fold your hands and apologise to Bankim Babu's immortal spirit and to people," he said.

The home minister alleged that the Congress has forgotten "Vande Mataram" due to its "vote-bank politics".

The BJP hit out at the Congress, alleging that its top leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge showed "utter disrespect" towards "Vande Mataram" when it was being sung at the party's Independence Day event, and demanded an apology from them.