A decade-long discussion on India’s national song, Vande Mataram, resurfaced in Parliament on Monday, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi led a 10-hour debate in the Lok Sabha to mark the song’s 150th anniversary. The discussions will continue in a one-day special Rajya Sabha session on Tuesday, presided over by Home Minister Amit Shah.

During the debate, PM Modi traced the song’s origins and its role in the freedom struggle. He criticised the removal of certain stanzas in 1937, calling it a “division and partition of the song,” and argued that this act contributed to the eventual Partition of India. “Vande Mataram was divided first, and then the country was divided,” he asserted, accusing the Congress and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of compromising on the national song.

This raises the

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