On the day the Winter session of Parliament began, Narendra Modi had lamented that new MPs were not being given the opportunity to present their views. On Monday, debutante MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra did that, taking on the prime minister in the debate in the Lok Sabha on Vande Mataram.
The Congress MP from Wayanad went toe to toe against the PM in a combative speech and their squaring off was the highlight of the day.
The beginning of Priyanka’s speech was lacklustre, but around three minutes in, she gathered steam, questioning why there was a debate in Parliament about a song that was part of India.
When Treasury members opposed her remark, she shot back: “You have asked for this debate. You did not want a debate on electoral reforms until we debated on this.”
“Why are we here today,” she asked. “It’s our national song; what debate can there be on it?”
She answered her own question: “We are here for two reasons. One, Bengal elections are coming up so the prime minister wants to play his role.”
The second reason, she said, was an old aim of “theirs”; it was, she said, to hurl new allegations at those who gave their lives for Independence. To divert attention from the real issues.”
She said that though Prime Minister Modi delivers a good speech, he has one shortcoming – he is "weak on facts".
"Modi mentioned a letter in the House, in which he said that on October 20, Nehru had written to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. But the prime minister did not mention the letter written on October 17, which Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had written to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,”
"Netaji had written 'My dear Jawahar, reference to Vande Mataram. We shall have a talk in Kolkata and also discuss the question in the Working Committee, if you bring it up there. I have written to Dr. Tagore to discuss this matter with you when you visit Santiniketan. Please do not forget to have a talk with him when you visit Santiniketan," she said.
"On October 20, Nehru had replied to it. PM Modi quoted one line of this reply here, but the rest of what Nehru ji wrote was -- 'There is no doubt that the present outcry against Vande Mataram is to a large extent a manufactured one by the communalists. Whatever we do, we cannot pander to communalist feelings'," she said.
She then cited Tagore's letter to Nehru in which he stated that the two stanzas that were always sung held such profound significance that there was no difficulty in separating that part from the rest of the poem and those sections of the book.
Earlier, initiating the debate, Modi had said Muslim League leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah first stepped up his opposition to Vande Mataram on October 15, 1937, from Lucknow.
“Nehru wrote to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose five days later, sharing Jinnah's sentiments and observing that Vande Mataram's Anandmath background had the potential to ‘irritate the Muslims’," Modi said.
"Instead of firmly countering the baseless statements of the Muslim League and condemning them, Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Congress president, did not reaffirm his and the Congress party’s commitment to Vande Mataram, but began questioning Vande Mataram itself," the PM said.
Priyanka took on Modi in many pointed parts of her speech.
She pointed out that the prime minister had said that Rabindranath Tagore sang Vande Mataram “at a session” in 1896. Whose session was it, was it Hindu Mahasbhas, was it the RSS’s, she asked, underlining that it was a Congress session – something the PM had not mentioned. .
Priyanka said Modi has been the country's PM for about 12 years, while Jawaharlal Nehru had spent as many years in jail for the independence of the country.
"He was then the prime minister for 17 years and if he had not made ISRO, there would not have been your Mangalyaan; if he had not set up the DRDO, Tejas would not have been there; if IITs and IIMs had not been established, then we would not have been ahead in the Information Technology sector.
If AIIMS had not been formed, we would not have been able to face the COVID pandemic. If he had not made BHEL, SAIL, Bhakra Nangal, then how would Viksit Bharat be achieved," she said.
She dared the prime minister to be done with his dwelling in the past – read criticism of Nehru – to focus on the present.
"... Whatever complaints you have against Nehru, whatever mistakes you think he made... if you want to hurl abuses, if you want to insult as much as you like, please make a list of that too... 999 insults, 9,999 insults... make a list, and then we will fix a time,” Priyanka said.
“Just like we debated for 10 hours today on Vande Mataram, in the same way, we will ask the Speaker, we will fix a time – 10 hours, 20 hours, 40 hours, however many hours it takes for your complaint to be fully addressed..
"Let's close the chapter for once and all. After that, let's talk about today’s issues – price rise and unemployment," she added.