SRINAGAR, August 16: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers staged a protest outside the Congress office in Srinagar on Sunday, expressing their opposition to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi over an alleged objection to the full rendition of the national song ‘Vande Mataram’ during an event in Delhi.
Information was available with The Chenab Times that the demonstrators, carrying BJP flags, chanted slogans against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. They also reportedly burned effigies of the Congress leaders as part of their protest.
Police personnel were deployed in significant numbers at the scene to manage the law and order situation and prevented the protesting BJP workers from approaching the main entrance of the Congress office.
The protest stems from allegations made by the BJP on Saturday, accusing Sonia Gandhi of objecting to the singing of the complete version of ‘Vande Mataram’ at an Independence Day function held at the Congress headquarters in the national capital. The saffron party has demanded an apology from the Congress for this alleged insult to the national song.
The Congress party has, however, refuted these claims. According to the opposition party, Sonia Gandhi’s intervention was solely to request a chair for party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, who had been standing for an extended period during the event. The party maintained that the allegation of objecting to ‘Vande Mataram’ was baseless.
Adding to the political discourse surrounding the incident, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, addressing a rally in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan, on Sunday, called upon the Congress party to tender an apology to the nation and to Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, the author of ‘Vande Mataram’. Shah emphasized that the national song holds deep significance for the country and its people.
The incident has amplified the ongoing political friction between the BJP and the Congress, with differing accounts of the events that transpired at the Independence Day celebration. The BJP has framed the alleged objection as an affront to national pride, while the Congress has sought to clarify the situation, attributing the interaction to a matter of comfort for its senior leader.
The Chenab Times News Desk