New Delhi [India], August 20 : Congress MP Pawan Khera on Thursday launched a sharp attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) amid the Vande Mataram row, questioning the organisation's role in the freedom movement.
Speaking to ANI on the Congress Working Committee's (CWC) decision to sing only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram, Khera said, "Where were you (RSS) during the freedom movement? Now you have come to tell us about Vande Mataram."
"By saying all this, they are going against Rabindranath Tagore, C Rajagopalachari, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, and Pandit Nehru. We are not surprised because even at that time, the RSS used to oppose these great men," Khera said.
He further alleged, "Godse and Savarkar's family members today have admitted that Godse was a part of the RSS. This is the reason they (BJP) are speaking against Vande Mataram and Gandhi ji today. Will these traitors teach us about Vande Mataram now?"
As this happened, Congress MP Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said that the ruling BJP was trying to manipulate history.
"We have been reiterating this version for the past 80 years. The BJP wants to manipulate history. We will not act at the behest of PM Modi or Amit Shah. The BJP should not try to teach history to the Congress," Warring told ANI.
Congress leader Ajay Kumar Lallu said BJP should not react to the party's resolution on Vande Mataram, asserting that leaders like Nehru, Bose and Gandhi had all sung it.
"Be it Pandit Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose. Mahatma Gandhi, all sang it (Vande Mataram). Today, if we are taking this forward, then BJP should not give any reaction to it," Lallu told ANI.
The CWC on Wednesday sharpened its stand to sing only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram, citing the party's 1937 resolution.
"We have been reiterating this version for the past 80 years. The BJP wants to manipulate history... We will not act at the behest of PM Modi or Amit Shah. The BJP should not try to teach history to the Congress," he told ANI.
Congress MP KC Venugopal said the party's stand on the recitation of Vande Mataram was clear and that it would follow the decisions taken by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in 1937.
Venugopal said "Vande Mataram" and the National Anthem are emotional issues for the Congress, alleging that the BJP was politicising the matter.
He termed the controversy over its recitation at the Congress headquarters a "communication gap" and said the issue was closed.
Addressing a press conference after the CWC meeting, Venugopal said, "There is no confusion about that. Today, we discussed this during the CWC. Our stand is very clear. In 1937, Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the topmost leadership of that time, whatever decisions they took, we will abide by those decisions. We are very clear on that: our Congress party workers will do only that. This is our decision."
"The Vande Mataram and National Anthem are emotional things for the Congress party. But it is political for the BJP. This is the difference between them and us. That is clearly a communication gap only. We are very clear about what happened there. That chapter is already closed. These are the versions of the BJP that distort the entire national issues, the paper leak, and others," he further said.
The controversy stems from video footage from the Congress headquarters showing Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Sonia Gandhi conversing as the national song was being rendered during Independence Day celebrations on August 15, prompting the BJP to accuse the party's top leadership of disrespecting "Vande Mataram" and demand a public apology.