Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri (R) and Priyank Kharge
Credit: DH File Photos
Bengaluru: Uttara Kannada BJP MP Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri has claimed that Jana Gana Mana, the country’s national anthem, was written “to welcome the British”.
Kageri said this at an event in Honnavar to mark 150 years of Vande Mataram, India’s national song.
The Congress slammed Kageri, describing his claim as “utter nonsense”.
Speaking at the event, Kageri said both Vande Mataram and Jana Gana Mana were equal in stature.
“I don’t want to revisit history. Calls to make Vande Mataram the national anthem were strong. But our ancestors decided to keep Vande Mataram as well as Jana Gana Mana, which was composed to welcome the British. We’ve accepted this,” Kageri, a former Karnataka Assembly Speaker, said.
Kageri said Vande Mataram should get more prominence it deserves.
“Vande Mataram’s contribution to the freedom struggle must serve as an inspiration to us all. It must reach schools, colleges, youngsters and the masses,” Kageri said.
Panchayat Raj and IT-BT Minister Priyank Kharge said Kageri’s claim was a “WhatsApp history lesson” by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s ideological fount.
Priyank said Rabindranath Tagore wrote Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata in 1911, and its first stanza became Jana Gana Mana.
“It was first sung on 27 December 1911 at the Indian National Congress in Calcutta—not as a royal tribute. Tagore also clarified in 1937 & 1939 that it hails the ‘Dispenser of India’s destiny’ and ‘could never be George V, George VI, or any other George’,” Priyank said in a post on X.
“The MP says he doesn’t want to revisit history. But, I strongly urge every BJP, RSS leader, worker and ‘swayamsevak’ should revisit history by reading the editorials of RSS mouthpiece Organizer,” Priyank said, adding that “RSS has a great tradition of disrespecting the Constitution, the Tricolour and the National Anthem”.
The Union government is celebrating 150 years of Vande Mataram.
According to the Press Information Bureau, it is believed that Bankimchandra Chatterji wrote it during the “auspicious occasion of Akshaya Navami” on November 7, 1875.