Vishweshwar Kageri Statement: Karnataka BJP MP Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri claimed that ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was written to glorify the British, hence ‘Vande Mataram’ should be the national anthem. Congress described it as an attempt to distort history.
Jana Gana Mana Controversy: Controversy over the national anthem has once again increased in Karnataka politics. BJP MP Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri claimed that the country’s national anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was originally written to welcome British officials and ‘Vande Mataram’ should have been the national anthem instead. As soon as this statement came out, controversy increased in political circles. Accusing it of distorting history, Congress raised the question that BJP’s aim is to instigate sentiments by creating a debate on the national anthem.
What did Vishweshwar Kageri say?
BJP MP Kageri made this comment at an event organized to mark 150 years of Vande Mataram in Honnavar, Karnataka. He said, ‘Our ancestors kept both the songs together, but the reality is that Jana Gana Mana was written to welcome the British.’ According to Kageri, Vande Mataram is the true spirit of the country, a symbol of self-respect and independence.
Congress’s counterattack
Karnataka government minister and Congress leader Priyank Kharge termed Kageri’s statement as completely wrong and a deliberate fallacy. He wrote on social media platform Now BJP MPs are saying that the national anthem was written to praise the British. This is complete nonsense. Citing historical facts, Kharge said that Rabindranath Tagore had written this song titled Bharato Bhagya Vidhaata on December 11, 1911 and it was first sung at the Congress session held in Kolkata on December 27, 1911. At that time it was presented not in honor of any British king, but as a praise of the arbiter of India’s destiny.
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National Anthem: Song of India’s future and soul – Congress
Priyank Kharge also reminded that Tagore himself had publicly clarified in 1937 and 1939 that this song was not for any king or empire, but for the future of India and its soul. Kharge alleged that ‘before rewriting history, BJP and RSS leaders should read the old documents of their own institutions, which record disagreements towards the national anthem and the Constitution.’
What do historians say?
This controversy regarding ‘Jana Gana Mana’ is not new. It has been claimed many times that this song was written to welcome British Emperor George V at the Delhi Durbar of 1911. But according to historians, the song was written a day before the court. It was not played in the Delhi court. It was sung for the first time on the Congress platform as a national sentiment. After this, this song became popular on many platforms as a voice expressing the soul of the nation. In 1950, the Constituent Assembly officially declared it the national anthem of India.