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PM Modi told in the Lok Sabha that in 1937, Jawaharlal Nehru compromised on Vande Mataram under the pressure of the Muslim League, due to which the Congress tore the song into pieces and opened the way for partition.
New Delhi: Referring to a historical incident in the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a scathing attack on the policies of the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress. PM Modi told why Jawaharlal Nehru had hurriedly caught a flight to Calcutta (now Kolkata) on 25 October 1937 and how the same journey changed the future of ‘Vande Mataram’. According to PM Modi’s speech, this visit was not normal, but an exercise to break the national anthem into ‘pieces’ to appease the Muslim League.
Jinnah’s threat and Nehru’s ‘shaking throne’
Explaining the developments, the Prime Minister said that in 1937, the Muslim League’s opposition towards Vande Mataram was at its peak. On 15 October 1937, Mohammad Ali Jinnah raised his voice against Vande Mataram from Lucknow. The PM said, after this protest by Jinnah, Congress President Jawaharlal Nehru saw his throne shaking. By law, Nehru should have given a befitting reply to the baseless statements of the League, but instead he started ‘investigating’ Vande Mataram itself.
Letter written to Bose and agreement with Jinnah
Citing history, the PM said that just 5 days after Jinnah’s protest, on October 20, Nehru wrote a letter to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. In this, he agreed with Jinnah’s sentiments and wrote that the Anandamath background of ‘Vande Mataram’ can instigate Muslims.
That flight of 25 October and the ‘agreement’
PM Modi said that after this, Congress announced that a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) will be held in Kolkata on 26 October, in which Vande Mataram will be reviewed. To attend this meeting, Nehru took a flight to Kolkata a day earlier, i.e. on 25 October 1937,” the PM said. “At that time, people across the country took out Prabhat Pheris to protest against this proposal, but unfortunately on 26 October, Congress compromised on Vande Mataram and the song was cut into pieces.”
‘Mask of goodwill, surrender in reality’
The Prime Minister stressed in his speech that the decision was masked as ‘social harmony’. But history is witness to the fact that there was no harmony, rather Congress had surrendered before the Muslim League. The PM said that this mentality later paved the way for the partition of the country.
