New Delhi, Dec. 9 -- Opposition MPs, spearheaded by Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Gaurav Gogoi, hit back at the NDA-led Centre on Monday over the "Vande Mataram" debate, calling it an attempt by the BJP to take advantage ahead of the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, meanwhile, dubbed the BJP as "rashtra-vivadi" and not "rashtravadi" (nationalists), while Trinamool Congress (TMC)'s Mahua Moitra accused the BJP's commitment to this song is a "badly scripted comedy".

Initiating the debate in the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi blamed India's first PM and Congress leader Jawaharlal Nehru for removing stanzas from the song, composed in the 1870s by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee , and ...