Congress Walks into a Vicious Vande Mataram Trap

A letter of protest from a descendant of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, the creator of Vande Mataram, has turned what could initially have been a fleeting political controversy into a potentially damaging embarrassment for the Congress.

And the timing could hardly have been worse: the controversy erupted on the very day India celebrated the 80th anniversary of Independence.

Sumitra Chattopadhyay, a BJP legislator from Naihati (North 24 Parganas district) and a descendant of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhya, has written to Sonia Gandhi protesting what he described as her visible discomfort and repeated attempts to interrupt the rendition of the full Vande Mataram at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi on August 15.

He has sought introspection and an unconditional apology from the Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson.

The controversy stems from a video of the Independence Day function at Indira Bhavan in which Congress leaders and workers were singing Vande Mataram. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi were among those present, while Sonia Gandhi was seen gesturing towards party colleagues during the rendition.

Even Rahul Gandhi too once looked back and tried to indicate something, showed the viral visuals which rapidly triggered an explosive outrage in the internet, providing a political ammunition for the BJP.

Congress’ Rejection of the Charge

The Congress has rejected the charge even as the fleeting visual raised a grave question of nationalism, legacy of Bankim Chandra and the party's own historical lineage.

The explanation of the party, articulated by general secretary Jairam Ramesh, is that Sonia was asking for a chair for Kharge, who had been standing for a considerable period.

Vande Mataram was performed in full at the programme, the party claimed in its rebuttal.

But politically, the damage may lie less in what Sonia Gandhi intended than in what the images appear to convey.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah moved swiftly to turn the episode into a larger indictment of the Congress's relationship with national symbols. Speaking in Chittorgarh in Rajasthan, he accused Sonia Gandhi of trying to stop the song and declared that the country would not forget what he called a “sin”.

The BJP has since rightly amplified the issue, seeking to connect it with the Congress's larger ideological positioning.

That is where the Congress may have walked into a particularly dangerous trap.

Significance of Vande Mataram

Vande Mataram is not merely another patriotic composition. Written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhya in the late 19th century, it became one of the most potent cultural symbols of India's freedom struggle and was later accorded the status of the National Song.

Any suggestion that the Congress leadership was uncomfortable with its rendition therefore provides the BJP with an obvious, yet unusually emotive political weapon.

Because, thousands of freedom fighters during the critical years of India’s Independence struggle drew their inspiration and courage from this celebrated couple of words – Vande Mataram.

The intervention by Sumitra Chattopadhyay makes the controversy still more uncomfortable for Congress. His family connection with the ‘Father of the Song’ is established, and his political association with the BJP gives the ruling party an additional handle to frame the dispute as one involving not merely partisan politics but the supposed defence of Bengal's as well as India’s cultural inheritance.

For Congress, the problem is compounded by geography. Bengal has a particularly deep emotional relationship with Bankim Chandra and Vande Mataram.

The BJP, which has increasingly sought to appropriate Bengal's nationalist icons, now has an opportunity to portray itself as the custodian of a cultural legacy that it claims Congress has become uncomfortable with.

Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari has already attacked Sonia Gandhi and demanded an apology, turning the issue into a Bengal-specific political confrontation as well.

Congress’ Faux Pas

The Congress may dismiss the controversy as a manufactured political theatre. It may even endeavour hard to window-dress Sonia Gandhi's gestures.

But politics is often decided by perception rather than explanation. Once an evocative image is released into the public domain, a subsequent clarification rarely possesses the same emotional force.

That is the Congress faux pas: it has allowed the BJP to ask a question— whether the party which once led India's freedom struggle is now uncomfortable with one of its most enduring patriotic symbols.

For an Opposition already struggling to construct a persuasive nationalist narrative against the BJP, this is quite an unsavoury controversy. And by allowing it to erupt on the Independence Day, Congress may have handed its principal rival precisely the political gift it never dreamt of giving.

The issue may eventually disappear from the headlines. But the image, the accusation and, now, the letter from Bankim Chandra's own descendant could linger considerably longer.