India, Dec. 8 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched a sharp attack on the Congress during a Lok Sabha debate marking 150 years of Vande Mataram, accusing former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru of echoing Muhammad Ali Jinnah's opposition to the national song and "pandering to communal concerns".

Initiating the discussion, PM Modi said Nehru had once written to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose that Vande Mataram might "provoke and irritate Muslims", and suggested examining its usage. "This, despite Vande Mataram being born in Bankim Chandra's Bengal," he said.

The Prime Minister also linked the national song to the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975, asserting that when Vande Mataram completed 100 years, "the Constitution w...