The BJP on Thursday claimed that Jana Gana Mana was adopted as the national anthem by the Constituent Assembly without discussion at the instance of Jawaharlal Nehru, depriving this status to Vande Mataram.
During the discussion on celebrations of the 150th year of Vande Mataram in the Rajya Sabha, BJP president and leader of the House J.P. Nadda alleged that the Congress compromised with the ethos of India by denying Vande Mataram the national anthem status.
He tried to create a distinction between the status of national anthem and national song while Congress leader Jairam Ramesh argued that both national symbols always enjoyed equal status.
Nadda on Thursday cited a letter from Nehru to former Jana Sangh leader and cabinet colleague Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, where the first Prime Minister mentioned that Vande Mataram was not suitable for the status of national anthem.
"Nehru wrote that Vande Mataram was not feasible for national anthem chiefly because its tune does not suit the orchestral and band rendering…. There was not enough movement in it.... The respect and position that Vande Mataram deserved, it did not get. The government of the time is responsible for it,” Nadda said.
The Rajya Sabha on Thursday concluded the debate on Vande Mataram, which had started on Tuesday.