‘UPA Banned Vande Mataram Slogan In 2012’: Govt May Lift Curb, Expose Opposition’s Double Standards

Last Updated:November 28, 2025, 14:13 IST

Top sources say that it plans to remove Vande Mataram from the objection list. But not without pointing out that it was first inserted in the rules of dos and don'ts in 2012 by UPA

The Centre plans to counter the Congress and TMC. (File)

Vande Mataram, the national song, which epitomised India’s fight against the British, is now central to the fight between the government and opposition.

It all began when the government re-issued a memorandum reminding the MPs for the upcoming parliamentary session that decorum should be maintained and some dos and don’ts have to be followed.

As per the parliament bulletin on rules, “(3) The decorum and the seriousness of the proceedings of the House require that there should be no ‘Thanks’, ‘Thank You’, ‘Jai Hind’, ‘Bande Mataram’ or any other slogans raised in the House."

This is what has now become an issue. West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee has asked why the government has an objection to Vande Mataram. Also, the fact that the national song was written by a Bengali, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, has given her the chance to accuse the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of being anti-Bengal.

The Congress, which has often been on the wrong side of the nationalism debate, too, has been attacking the government on this.

But the government has a plan. It plans to move a short-duration discussion, but at the same time call the bluff of the opposition. Top sources say that it plans to remove Vande Mataram from the objection list. But not without pointing out that it was first inserted in the rules of dos and don’ts in 2012 by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and when the VP and Rajya Sabha chairman was Hamid Ansari, and that the TMC was part of the UPA also.

What the government says and will say in case of the debate is that in any case the proceedings of the House end with Vande Mataram being sung. But the inclusion of the national song on the “banned list" is inappropriate now and also not relevant.

The government argues that with 75 years of the Constitution Day being celebrated, this change would mark the government’s commitment to respect and value the Constitution.

It’s a do-or-die battle for the TMC in Bengal and it would want to use every weapon to ensure it can project the BJP as being anti-people, destroying the Constitution and also anti-Bengali for objecting to the song written by one of the stalwarts of Bengal — Bankim Chandra.

In 2024, Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Samvidhan Khatre Mein Hai’ narrative clicked to the extent that the BJP was limited to not getting a simple majority. This accusation on Vande Mataram being stopped will give him and his campaign another fillip.

But the government is all geared to show the mirror to the opposition.

News politics ‘UPA Banned Vande Mataram Slogan In 2012’: Govt May Lift Curb, Expose Opposition’s Double Standards

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