The issue of insulting the national song 'Vande Mataram' at the Congress headquarters was still in the news, meanwhile the Bharatiya Janata Party has now launched a scathing attack on the Congress regarding a case in Goa. BJP has alleged that Congress is continuously ignoring national symbols.
Senior BJP leader and MP Ravi Shankar Prasad directly accused the Congress of compromising the values and national symbols of its own freedom movement. He said that after New Delhi, now Congress has insulted the national song 'Vande Mataram' in Goa also.
He claimed that on August 15, Sonia Gandhi was protesting against the singing of 'Vande Mataram' in full at the Congress headquarters in Delhi. Soon after, when Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge visited Goa, there too only two stanzas of the national anthem were sung in an official program of the party.
Questions raised on the mentality of Congress
Questioning the thinking of the Congress, the former Union Minister said that if the party does such things again and again, then it should immediately stop its arrogance and pride of becoming the sole contractor of India's freedom movement.
Referring to history, Ravi Shankar Prasad said that 'Vande Mataram' was a main and inspirational song of India's freedom struggle. But in 1936-37, Congress had an agreement with the Muslim League. Probably at the same time, pressure was created by the Muslim League to sing only two stanzas of this song, because the remaining parts hurt their religious sentiments. He further said that after that agreement, the people of Muslim League divided and went to Pakistan, but the same thinking of Congress continues even today.
Remembered the decision of Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the country's first President and great freedom fighter Dr. Rajendra Prasad had clearly declared in the last meeting of the Constituent Assembly on 24 January 1950 that 'Jana Gana Mana' would be the national anthem of the country and 'Vande Mataram' would be the national song.
Directly targeting the Congress President, the BJP MP asked that you often sarcastically point out the people of BJP, where were these people in the freedom movement? So you tell me whether Dr. Rajendra Prasad was a big leader of the freedom movement or not? Did he go to jail or not? When Dr. Prasad made this historic announcement in the Constituent Assembly in 1950, then whom is Kharge ridiculing and why? He sarcastically said that Congress is still suffering from the same old mentality which was seen during the Lucknow Pact of 1936-37.
Accused of vote bank politics
Giving various examples, Ravi Shankar Prasad alleged that whenever any issue of national interest conflicts with vote bank politics, Congress always takes a step back and ignores the national interest.
On the other hand, BJP's newly appointed national media co-ordinator Ashish Aggarwal also shared a post on social media platform 'X' and accused Congress of continuously insulting 'Vande Mataram'.
He wrote that during the Congress programs both in Delhi on August 15 and in Goa two days later, a clear distance was maintained from the full singing of 'Vande Mataram'. From that comes the statement of Congress MP Imran Masood that 'Neither used to sing, nor will I sing.' Ashish Aggarwal said that this is the real face of Congress, where the politics of appeasement is placed above national pride and respect.