Questioning the objective behind the discussion on Vande Mataram, senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said it was an attempt by the Narendra Modi government to frame its agenda ahead of the Assembly elections in West Bengal, and yet another bid to keep people mired in the past and distract them from the government’s failures, present-day problems and future challenges.

Speaking in Lok Sabha hours after Modi launched a blistering attack on the Congress on Monday, Vadra dipped into the past to counter his charges point by point, and posited it with present-day politics.

Saying that Vande Mataram is part of the country’s “soul” and remains etched in the hearts of all Indians, she said: “It is our national song..What debate can there be on it?” She said the PM had committed a “sin”

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