'National Shame': BJP Slams Rahul Gandhi For Skipping PM Modi's Vande Mataram Address In Lok Sabha

Last Updated:December 08, 2025, 15:08 IST

The BJP slammed Rahul Gandhi for skipping PM Narendra Modi’s address on 150 years of 'Vande Mataram', calling his absence a national “shame” and an insult to a key national symbol.

A file photo of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (PTI)

A fierce political row erupted on Monday after Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Advisor Kanchan Gupta posted a strongly worded criticism on X, targeting Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi for his absence from the Lok Sabha during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address on 150 years of ‘Vande Mataram’.

In his post, Gupta described Rahul Gandhi’s absence as “a matter of abiding national shame", emphasising that the Congress leader was missing at a moment when the Prime Minister was initiating an important debate on a national symbol.

“It is a matter of abiding national shame that Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi was missing from Lok Sabha when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was speaking on ‘Vande Mataram’… He is still missing, so is Priyanka Gandhi," Gupta wrote.

He accused Gandhi of evading responsibility, saying he had “left it to Gaurav Gogoi to do his job" despite holding a constitutional position.

Gupta went further, alleging entitlement and disregard on the part of the Congress leader.

“A Leader of Opposition has obligations, responsibilities and duties which this arrogant Nehru Dynast high on entitlement and privilege refuses to acknowledge," he wrote.

He suggested that the absence was an “insult to Bharat’s symbol of nation and nationhood", drawing a direct comparison with Jawaharlal Nehru’s historical position on the national song.

“Rahul Gandhi is following in the footsteps of Nehru in publicly insulting and denigrating ‘Vande Mataram’," he claimed.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Anurag Thakur, too, slammed the brother-sister duo and recalled how Rahul Gandhi, during a rally in south Karnataka in July 2018, had advised the people to restrict the recitation of ‘Vande Mataram’ to a mere sentence, years after Nehru Ji had restricted the same to a single stanza.

“They restricted the recitation of ‘Vande Mataram’ to a line in 2018, and today, the brother-sister duo did not even turn up for discussion at the Parliament.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had himself questioned Rahul Gandhi’s absence, saying, “Serious discussion is going on in Parliament, but LoP Rahul Gandhi is not present in the House. First Nehru, now Rahul Gandhi, has shown disregard for ‘Vande Mataram’."

The Prime Minister also accused the Congress of “compromising" on the national song and “surrendering before the Muslim League", citing historical letters, including one allegedly written by Nehru to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

BJP MP Sambit Patra reinforced the attack, stating that PM Modi had “exposed the Congress party’s betrayal" of the national song.

Patra claimed Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra stayed away because of a “sense of guilt" rooted in Congress’s historical stance.

Congress sources, as reported by news agency PTI, had on Sunday said that the party had finalised a list of speakers for the debates scheduled across three days.

Gaurav Gogoi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were to represent the party in Monday’s ‘Vande Mataram’ discussion, while Rahul Gandhi is slated to speak in the debate on electoral reforms the next day.

Several other Congress MPs, including Deepender Hooda, Bimol Akoijam, Praniti Shinde, Prashant Padole, and others, were also listed as speakers.

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