NEW DELHI: In a pointed critique, Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the parliament has accused the Congress party and former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of compromising on Vande Mataram during a crucial phase of India’s freedom struggle. Speaking in the parliament as the nation commemorates 150 years of the historic national song, PM Modi alleged that the Congress leadership “surrendered before the Muslim League” in 1937 when demands emerged to remove portions of Vande Mataram on the grounds of religious sensitivity.Congress
According to the Prime Minister, the controversy surrounding Vande Mataram gained momentum after Mohammed Ali Jinnah publicly opposed the song, calling it objectionable to Muslims. “Instead of standing firmly in defence of Vande Mataram, Nehru began ‘investigating’ the song just five days after Jinnah’s opposition,” PM Modi said, suggesting that the Congress leadership succumbed to communal pressures at a decisive political moment.
PM Narendra Modi Ji (@narendramodi) tears into Congress :
“The politics of the Muslim League opposing Vande Mataram began accelerating in 1937. Mohammed Ali Jinnah openly raised slogans against it.
And instead of standing firmly for our national ethos, the then Congress… pic.twitter.com/8hvKN0wq5w
— Pradeep Bhandari(प्रदीप भंडारी)🇮🇳 (@pradip103) December 8, 2025
Modi further claimed that Nehru went on to “truncate” and “edit out significant stanzas” of the national song to secure political support from the Muslim League. “Jawaharlal Nehru did a ‘tukde-tukde’ of Vande Mataram,” the Prime Minister remarked, adding that the Congress’s decision marked one of the earliest examples of vote-bank politics shaping national symbolism.
PM Modi also cited a letter allegedly written by Nehru to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in which Nehru is said to have expressed concern that Vande Mataram could “incite Muslims”. The Prime Minister described this as a “betrayal” of a song that played a central role in India’s anti-colonial movement and became a rallying cry for countless freedom fighters.
