"WhatsApp History": Congress Leader Fact-Checks BJP MP On 'Jana Gana Mana'

BJP MP and former Karnataka Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri has mistakenly claimed that the national anthem, Jana Gana Mana, was written to welcome the British and that there was a chorus to make Vande Mataram the national anthem.

The remarks have drawn a sharp rebuke from Congress leader and minister Priyank Kharge, who has called it a "WhatsApp history lesson" and "utter nonsense".

Addressing an event at Honnavara 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.

Taking a swipe, Kharge said in a post on X, "Another day, another RSS 'WhatsApp history' lesson. @BJP4Karnataka 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.

"The MP says he doesn't want to revisit history. But, I strongly urge every BJP, RSS leader, worker and 'swayamsevak' should revisit history by reading the editorials of @RSSorg mouthpiece Organizer and know that RSS has a great tradition of disrespecting the Constitution, the Tricolour and the National Anthem. This viRSS needs to be cured," the Congress leader said.

The Jana Gana Mana Row

In the past, too, many politicians have claimed that Jana Gana Mana was written to welcome the British. Historians have repeatedly explained that this is not true.

Rabindranath Tagore wrote Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata on December 11, 1911. The next day, a Delhi Durbar was organised at Coronation Park to proclaim King George V as Emperor of India. This led to the misconception that the song was written for the coronation event.

But the song was first sung on December 28, 1911, at the Congress session. It was also sung at the foundation day programme of Adi Brahma Samaj in February 1912.

The confusion was centred around one word, "adhinayaka", meaning leader. In 1937, Tagore wrote in a letter that "neither the Fifth nor the Sixth nor any George could be the maker of human destiny through the ages". "I had hailed in the song Jana Gana Mana that Dispenser of India's destiny who guides, through all rise and fall, the wayfarers, He who shows the people the way..."