Mallikarjun Kharge did not mince words and in a sharp takedown reminded Home Minister Amit Shah, who criticised the Congress over alleged insult to Vande Mataram, that the latter was a child when he first became an MLA.
He also assured that an inquiry would be conducted.
Minister JP Nadda, defending the party in the Rajya Sabha, said that the incident was unfortunate, and clarified that BJP members were not involved.
“Amit Shah speaks against our Madam Sonia Gandhi, he speaks against the Gandhi family. Defending itself, the Congress maintained that Sonia Gandhi had been asking for a chair for M Kharge, adding that the full version of the Vande Mataram was sung. The Congress also cited history to argue that Rabindranath Tagore had suggested that only the first few stanzas of Vande Mataram be sung. Sonia Gandhi and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge during the 80th Independence Day celebrations at AICC headquarters
When I first became an MLA, Amit Shah was a child, and today he’s teaching us patriotism,” Kharge, the 84-year-old Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said at a public rally in Goa on Monday. The criticism follows 61-year-old Amit Shah’s allegation that during the Independence Day programme at the Congress headquarters, Sonia Gandhi asked Vande Mataram to be stopped midway through the song.
