Can the BJP Really Answer Where Its Ideological Forefathers Were in 1942?

In a blistering address delivered in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi mounted a direct and forceful attack on the BJP and the RSS, questioning their role in India’s freedom struggle and accusing the ruling party of distorting the nation’s history for political gain.

Speaking during the discussion marking the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram, Gogoi’s speech electrified the Opposition benches and set off a storm in Parliament.

Opening with an emotional tribute to the “sacred land of Bengal”—birthplace of visionaries like Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Vivekananda, Aurobindo Ghosh, Khudiram Bose, Rabindranath Tagore and Subhas Chandra Bose—Gogoi reminded the House that Bengal gifted India both her National Anthem and National Song.

He traced the genesis of Vande Mataram to 1872, when Bankim Chandra wrote its first two lines in the shadow of post-1857 repression. These lines were later expanded in the novel Anandamath, transforming the hymn into a revolutionary call that united farmers, youth and masses against British imperialism.

Gogoi recalled how the song became the heartbeat of the Swadeshi Movement after the 1905 Partition of Bengal, amplified by publications like Bande Mataram and Yugantar edited by Aurobindo Ghosh. The hymn spread across India through pamphlets and early gramophone recordings, echoing even inside courtrooms during the trials of revolutionaries like Khudiram Bose.

He emphasised that it was the Indian National Congress that first gave Vande Mataram a national platform—Rabindranath Tagore sang it at the 1896 Calcutta Congress session, and in 1905, Congress formally declared it the National Song, replacing the “seven crores” of Bengal with “thirty crores” to signify the entire nation.

Turning to Prime Minister Modi’s allegations, Gogoi accused the PM of repeatedly dragging Nehru and Congress into unrelated discussions.

“During Operation Sindoor, he invoked Nehru 14 times and Congress 50 times. In his 75th Constitution Day speech, he mentioned Nehru 10 times and Congress 26 times. In earlier debates too—2022, 2020—it’s the same pattern,” Gogoi said, asserting that no amount of repetition can erase Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s contributions.

He reminded the House that while the Muslim League sought to boycott Vande Mataram in 1937, the Congress firmly refused to accept that stance. Even Maulana Abul Kalam Azad found no justification for opposing the hymn. Gogoi highlighted the ideological gulf between Congress, the Muslim League, and the Hindu Mahasabha—both of which attacked the Congress for insisting on the hymn’s first two lines at party meetings. Before questioning the Congress of 1937, he said, the BJP must explain where its ideological predecessors were during the 1942 Quit India Movement, and why they opposed it.

He noted that in 1950, despite objections from the Muslim League, the Constituent Assembly accorded Vande Mataram the status of National Song, reflecting both Bengal’s cultural heritage and the song’s role in India’s freedom struggle.

Gogoi then delivered one of the sharpest rebukes of the session:

“You do not understand Tagore. You brand anyone who sings Amar Shonar Bangla a Bangladeshi. You haven’t read Tagore. You don’t recognise the pain of the Partition embedded in that song. In Delhi, anyone speaking Bengali is harassed and sometimes jailed.”

He also questioned why the BJP, despite running a “double-engine government”, has failed to resolve Assam’s long-pending D-voter issue. India, he said, is built on unity in diversity—an idea the BJP continues to undermine.

Linking the ideals of Vande Mataram to present-day crises, Gogoi declared that celebrating the hymn’s legacy requires first ensuring citizens’ safety. He cited the toxic air pollution suffocating North India, saying millions of farmers and labourers are unable to breathe.

“How can we talk about national security when our air is unsafe?” he asked.

He raised concerns over border security and India’s geopolitical position, referencing the Pahalgam incident and Pakistan’s strengthening relationship with the US—issues he said the government refuses to address.

On the economy, he reminded the House of the PM’s own past remark that a weak rupee brings suffering to citizens. “Today the rupee is nearing 100. His prediction has come true.”

“Today the air is unsafe. The currency is unsafe. Our borders are unsafe. Delhi has witnessed bomb blasts. Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh still await the statehood and political safeguards they deserve. In such conditions, how do we uphold the ideals of Vande Mataram?” Gogoi asked.

Closing his speech, the Congress MP said Vande Mataram is not a partisan slogan but a civilizational call that united Indians against colonial rule. Its purpose was to bring India together—not to glorify the ideology of any political party.

“Attempts to rewrite history in its name will not succeed,” he declared, ending one of the most searing speeches of the session.

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