‘Jana Gana Mana Composed To Welcome British’: BJP MP Sparks Row, Congress Reacts – Delhi News Daily

BJP MP Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri sparked a massive row after he mistakenly claimed that Jana Gana Mana was written to welcome the British. (Image: X/@PriyankKharge)

BJP MP and former Karnataka Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri on Thursday sparked a massive row after he mistakenly claimed that India’s national anthem — Jana Gana Mana — was written to welcome the British and that there was a chorus to make Vande Mataram the national anthem.

Speaking at the Rashtriya Ekta Nadige event in Honnavar in Karwar, Kageri said he doesn’t want to revisit history. “But there was a strong chorus to make Vande Mataram the national anthem. However, our ancestors decided that along with Vande Mataram, Jana Gana Mana, which was composed to welcome the British, should also be included. Today, we have accepted it and continue to follow it.”

“But the contribution of Vande Mataram to India’s freedom struggle remains a great source of inspiration. As we mark its 150th year, we must ensure that Vande Mataram is sung by everyone, especially the youth in schools and colleges across the country,” he said.

His remarks soon attracted Congress’s criticism with Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge calling it a “WhatsApp history lesson” and “utter nonsense”.

Launching a scathing attack on the BJP leader for his remarks on the national anthem, Kharge took to X and wrote, “Another day, another RSS ‘WhatsApp history’ lesson. Karnataka BJP MP Sri Kageri now claims our National Anthem is ‘British’. Utter Nonsense. Sri Tagore wrote the hymn Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata in 1911; its first stanza became Jana Gana Mana. It was first sung on 27 Dec 1911 at the Indian National Congress in Calcutta – not as a royal tribute.”

“Tagore also clarified in 1937 & 1939 that it hails the ‘Dispenser of India’s destiny,’ and ‘could never be George V, George VI, or any other George,” Kharge said.