Bengaluru: Pan India Actor Kishore Kumar has criticised what he calls an attempt to use the national song Vande Mataram for political gain by dividing people on religious lines.

On Thursday, he posted on Facebook a picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking in the Lok Sabha, with the caption ‘Jai Shri Ram to Vande Mataram.’ In his post, Kishore said the song, which once energised the freedom movement and united people across India, was now being turned into a tool for political advantage.

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He wrote that expressions once used to welcome others with love were being taken over and converted into war cries and weapons of hatred, especially against Muslims. Just as this shift happened, he said, those in

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