DEHRADUN: Political battle over Vande Mataram has intensified in Uttarakhand, with Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan describing the national song as a symbol of patriotism and unity, while former chief minister Harish Rawat accused the BJP of “raiding” the Congress’s historical legacy.
The exchange comes amid renewed debate following recent legal protection for Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s composition. Chouhan, who attended a gathering of saints in Haridwar on Sunday, said Vande Mataram belonged neither to a political party nor to any community.
“It represents devotion to the motherland and national unity,” he said. Chouhan alleged that the song had been “split into two” before Independence under pressure from the Muslim League, and claimed that the compromise had contributed to Partition.
“India will not be allowed to be divided again,” he said. Urging religious leaders to support the complete version of the song in their discourses, Chouhan said saints could build public awareness that reverence for the motherland should not be contentious.
“When the voice of saints awakens society, no one will dare oppose the complete rendition of Vande Mataram,” he added. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also endorsed the appeal.
Rawat, however, accused the BJP of politicising the song to divert attention from questions raised by the “Gen Z movement” and other serious issues. “The Congress has a historic association with Vande Mataram. The BJP has no connection with its history; it is committing political robbery,” he told TNIE.
The veteran Congress leader said his party could not abandon the values and principles of the freedom struggle, during which Vande Mataram became a rallying song.
He recalled that the Congress Working Committee had considered the issue in 1937, under Mahatma Gandhi’s guidance, and constituted a subcommittee of leading freedom fighters.
According to Rawat, the panel included Subhas Chandra Bose, Acharya Narendra Dev, Jawaharlal Nehru and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, among others, and sought Rabindranath Tagore’s guidance before deciding the version to be sung. “Congress workers sang that version while fighting British rule,” he said.
Rawat said the tradition continued after Independence, with party programmes opening with Vande Mataram. “This is not a recent political slogan for us; it is inseparable from the history of the national movement and Congress’s role in it,” he said.
The confrontation has sharpened an already polarised debate over the song’s legacy and rendition. While BJP leaders have framed support for the full text as an assertion of national unity, the Congress maintains that decisions taken by freedom movement leaders reflected both patriotic sentiment and India’s plural character.
