Lok Sabha likely to hold discussion on 150 years of Vande Mataram later this week; PM Modi to speak

New Delhi: A discussion on Vande Mataram is likely to take place in the Lok Sabha at the end of this week, with the Prime Minister expected to participate in the debate.

A senior BJP MP said that the Lok Sabha has allocated 10 hours for this discussion to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the national song. The debate is likely to take place on Thursday and Friday, said sources.

The discussion was a part of the agenda of the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee held on Sunday. The Congress, in response, questioned the government’s timing of the discussion and said it was aimed at diverting attention from a debate on SIR. While the government remains non-committal to a discussion on SIR, highly placed sources indicated that a discussion on the revision process is unlikely.

During the BAC meeting, the Trinamool Congress had, however, agreed to a discussion on the national song, pointing at an increased divide between the I.N.D.I.A. parties. At the I.N.D.I.A. party meeting held on the first day of the Winters Session, the TMC was conspicuously absent.

In a precursor to the government’s intend to discuss the national song, PM Modi, while speaking at an event to mark 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram early last month had said that the Congress due to its “divisive mindset” dropped stanzas from the song, which eventually “sowed the seeds” of Partition. PM Modi had also said that the omissions became “a part of its soul”.