- Kerala government skipped Vande Mataram at Independence Day event.
- BJP accused CM Satheesan of links with Jamaat-e-Islami.
- Sonia Gandhi criticized for allegedly disrupting Vande Mataram rendition.
The Vande Mataram row on Independence Day has mounted pressure on the Congress party from Delhi to Kerala. After an alleged insult by Sonia Gandhi at the Congress headquarters event in Delhi, the VD Satheeshan-led Kerala government has also come under the target of the BJP.
The United Democratic Front (UDF) government skipped the rendition of Vande Mataram from its official Independence Day event, drawing sharp criticism from the saffron party.
Kerala BJP leader Shone George accused CM Satheesan of 'surrendering to the dictates of Jamaat-e-Islami'. George didn't stop there and accused the CM of maintaining an 'illicit relationship' with the organisation and other 'anti-India' forces.
"We were convinced of this. Because this is not new—for the past one year, the CM has had an illicit relationship with Jamaat-e-Islami and anti-India forces, both openly and covertly in Kerala," George told reporters.
Accusing the government of communalising the national song, George said the state government discouraged rendition in schools.
He claimed it would "inject poison into young children's minds." He also alleged that the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) is controlling the General Education Department, which had issued the guidelines maintaining that the singing of the national song wasn't mandatory.
Sonia Gandhi on target
Meanwhile, attacks on the Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi are far from ending. West Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday claimed that the state was fuming over the alleged disrespect to the national song.
Notably, Gandhi was seen speaking to the fellow party workers while Vande Mataram was being sung. The BJP has accused the senior Congress leader of stopping the rendition while others, including Rahul Gandhi, were attentively singing.
During a rally in Rajasthan's Chittorgarh, Home Minister Amit Shah targeted Gandhi, stating that the nation won't forgive her for this sin.
"Look at their shamelessness. The national anthem 'Vande Mataram' was being sung at the Congress party headquarters. During the rendition, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi asked the Congress president to stop the song," Shah said.
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On the other hand, BJP MLA and a direct descendant of the song author Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Sumitro Chatterjee, has sought an unconditional apology from Gandhi.
He alleged that there was 'discomfort' and repeated attempts to stop the singing of the full version. He called the incident "not merely unfortunate but a shameless repetition of a historical mistake".
He wrote a letter to Gandhi, saying he was writing as an ordinary citizen, a patriot and a direct descendant of Bankim Chandra, expressing "deep pain, emptiness, and anger" over the episode.