'Congress Appeasement And Jinnah’s Politics Made Vande Mataram Controversial': UP CM Yogi Adityanath

Lucknow: During a special Assembly discussion on the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held Congress and Muhammad Ali Jinnah responsible for India’s cultural divisions and the eventual partition.

He stated that the compromise on Vande Mataram was not out of respect for religious sentiments, but the first and most dangerous experiment in Congress’s appeasement politics, which fueled separatism.

The Chief Minister noted that while Jinnah was in Congress, Vande Mataram faced no opposition. After leaving Congress, he used the national song as a political tool for the Muslim League, deliberately giving it a communal angle; the song remained the same, only the agenda changed.

CM Yogi said, “On October 15, 1937, Jinnah raised slogans against Vande Mataram in Lucknow, even as Pandit Nehru led Congress. Nehru’s subsequent letter to Subhas Chandra Bose on October 20, 1937, admitted that the issue was to “appease” Muslims. On October 26, 1937, Congress truncated parts of the song under the guise of “harmony,” sacrificing national consciousness.”

He added, “Despite protests by patriots, Congress prioritized vote-bank politics over the nation. By March 17, 1938, Jinnah demanded the song’s complete alteration, and Congress did not resist. This set the stage for growing separatism and the first compromise on cultural symbols, ultimately contributing to India’s partition.”

CM Yogi emphasized that opposition to Vande Mataram was political, not religious. He highlighted that from 1896 to 1922, Congress sessions featured the song without controversy, with support from leaders like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.

The Chief Minister further explained that Mohammad Ali Jauhar first opposed the song in 1923 during the Khilafat movement, not on religious grounds but for political motivations. While Jauhar left the stage, Congress’s subsequent appeasement became policy. By 1937, only two verses of the song were allowed in Congress sessions, even then, not mandatory, a national surrender, according to CM Yogi.

He also pointed out that the truncated version recognized by the Constituent Assembly in 1950 reflected this legacy of appeasement. Vande Mataram is more than a song; it is the soul of India.

He added, “From the 1905 Bengal Partition movement to the freedom struggle, it inspired morning processions, Satyagrahas, and the final moments of revolutionaries. Rabindranath Tagore called it the soul of India, Aurobindo Ghosh called it a mantra, and it featured on the first tricolor hoisted abroad by Madam Bhikaji Cama. Madan Lal Dhingra’s last words were also Vande Mataram.”

CM Yogi stressed that compromising on the song was an attack on India’s national identity. Even today, divisive forces attempt to weaken the nation’s spirit.

He concluded that Vande Mataram is a pledge to honor, protect, and strengthen the motherland, urging all to learn from past appeasements. He called on everyone to revisit Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s Anand Math and celebrate the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram as a commitment to India’s future.