Congress, Trinamool, DMK defend Sonia Gandhi over Vande Mataram row, CPI-M seeks clarity
New Delhi: With senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi continuing to face backlash over her actions during the rendition of the ‘Vande Mataram’ a day before, the Trinamool Congress and the DMK, along with her party, came out in her support, while the CPI-M asked the Congress to clarify its position on the national song.
In a video statement, Congress MP Pramod Tiwari said: “The BJP has now been surrounded from all sides and is losing popularity, so now it is creating a forced controversy over the national song and the national flag.”
He claimed that after the rendition of the Vande Mataram in the Rajya Sabha on the last day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, “during a courtesy call, Sonia Gandhi had praised Kiren Rijiju, noting that his lips were constantly moving in sync with ‘Vande Mataram’, calling it a commendable thing”.
Tiwari said that the BJP can confirm this from the Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs himself.
A day earlier, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh had also defended the veteran leader, saying” “There was no attempt to stop it (the song). Because the Congress President (Mallikarjun Kharge) had been standing for a long time, Sonia Gandhi was saying, ‘Bring a chair for him and place it there’.”
Claiming that Gandhi was being “unnecessarily targeted”, Trinamool Congress MP Kirti Azad challenged BJP MPs to sing all the six verses of the national song, saying: “I can’t do that. I am being very honest. I can’t do that. But does that make me less nationalist? If you can’t sing Vande Mataram, you are anti-national…Where are we going (as a nation)?”
DMK Spokesperson T.K.S. Elangovan also hit out at the BJP, saying: “How can we say Sonia Gandhi asked to stop the national song? She might have signalled for something else…BJP is known for finding fault with anything. They will be silent over whatever mistakes they do.”
However, CPI-M General Secretary M A Baby said that there is “some confusion” over rendition of the full version of the national song “because there are three Congress chief ministers today in the country” and therefore asked the party to clarify its position on the matter.
“During the flag hoisting function attended by Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan in Kerala, my information is that only the National Anthem was played. Vande Mataram was not played at all. In the case of three other Congress Chief Minister-led governments, Telangana, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh, the full-length song Vande Mataram was played. So, I hope Congress leadership would explain as to what is the position of Congress with regard to the reciting of Vande Mataram,” Baby told IANS.