The biggest anti-national act you can do is vote 'chori'; when you destroy vote, you destroy the idea of India, said Rahul Gandhi during the discussion on electoral reforms in Lok Sabha.

Rahul Gandhi questioned as to why do PM Modi and Amit Shah pick the Election Commissioner Chief, adding why was the Chief Justice of India removed from the selection panel for appointing election commissioners. 

Here the key reforms as per Rahul Gandhi:

* Make voter list machine readable 

* Tear up the law that allows the destruction of CCTVs

* What is the architecture of EVM. Till today we do not have access to EVM

* Please change the law that allows the Election Commissioner to get away with whatever he wants to do

The Haryana election was stolen and the theft was allowed by the Election Commission, claims Rahul Gandhi. 

"We have a set of election campaigns that are tailored for PM," alleges Rahul Gandhi

After being interrupted mid-speech, Rahul Gandhi complained to the Speaker that he is not being allowed to speak in the House. 

As Rahul Gandhi upped the attack on the RSS, Speaker Om Birla interrupted him mid-speech, asking him to focus on poll reforms. Minister Kiren Rijiju also stood up to counter the Leader of the Opposition.

Hitting out at the RSS, Rahul Gandhi said the project after Gandhiji's assassination, was the capture of India's institutional framework. Amid uproar, he said these are "uncomfortable truths". 

Our nation is a fabric of 1.5 billion people and it is woven together by vote, says Rahul Gandhi in parliament while speaking on the electoral reforms discussion. 

Responding to Amit Shah's address in Rajya Sabha, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge started his speech by chanting Vande Mataram.

"It was the Congress that made Vande Mataram a slogan for freedom. Congress started the tradition of singing Vande Mataram at its conventions. Did you do it?" he asked the treasury benches. "The Prime Minister and the Home Minister do not miss an opportunity to insult Jawaharlal Nehru. The Prime Minister accused the Nehru-led Congress of removing key parts of Vande Mataram. He (Home Minister) spoke about Muslim appeasement. You are talking about this now? When you formed a government in Bengal in alliance with the Muslim League, where was your patriotism? Read your history," Kharge said. 

The Congress chief said the Congress Working Committee in 1937 passed a resolution unanimously, recommending that only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram should be sung at national events. "Was Nehruji alone? Why are you targeting him? If you are trying to target Nehruji's image, it is impossible."

Union Minister of State for Health Anupriya Patel has told the Rajya Sabha that there is no shortage of essential anti-TB drugs like Rifampicin and Ethambutol in the central and state warehouses.

She was responding to a question on whether there has been any shortage of key anti-tuberculosis drugs in recent months, the reasons for delay in tender finalisation by the Central Tuberculosis Division and the measures being taken to ensure uninterrupted drug supply under the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP).

In a written reply, Patel said the NTEP is being implemented under the aegis of the National Health Mission (NHM) across the country.

"A rate contract model has been established for all drugs, including newer and shorter regimen drugs, for 2025-27, while ensuring adequate buffer," she said.

Speaking in Lok Sabha on electoral reforms, Samajwadi Party MP Akhilesh Yadav has said that 10 BLOs have so far lost their lives in Uttar Pradesh during the ongoing SIR process.

"We demand that their families be given Rs 1 crore as an ex-gratia amount," he said, adding that a government job be given to a member of the family.

Countering Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's charge that the NDA government proposed a parliamentary discussion on Vande Mataram with an eye on West Bengal polls, Union Home Minister Amit Shah today said the song is not restricted to Bengal.

"Some members raised questions in the Lok Sabha on the need for these discussions on Vande Mataram. The need for discussion on Vande Mataram, the need for dedication towards Vande Mataram, was important back then; it is needed now, and it will always be significant for a bright future which we have envisioned for 2047," Amit Shah said in Rajya Sabha., 

"Some think these discussions are being held because of the upcoming elections in Bengal. They want to demean the glorification of our national song by relating these discussions to the Bengal elections. It is true that the composer of Vande Mataram, Bankim Babu, was from Bengal, and the Anand Matth had its origin in Bengal, but Vande Mataram was not limited to Bengal or the country... When a soldier at the border of the country, or a policeman guarding the country from inside, sacrifices his life for the country, Vande Mataram is the only slogan he raises," he added.

While speaking in Rajya Sabha on 150 years of 'Vande Mataram' in Rajya Sabha, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, "Vande Mataram is not limited to Bengal and discussions will inspire generations."

"Shut down SIR. No provision in law allows it. Poll officers (BLO) committing suicide," Congress' Manish Tewari has said in Parliament.

Speaking in Lok Sabha on election reforms, Congress MP Manish Tewari demanded the government present before the Parliament the reasons in writing for conducting the SIR in different constituencies.

"The first reform that should happen is an amendment to the law governing the selection of members of the Election Commission. My suggestion is that LoP (Leader of Opposition) in Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India should be added to the committee of the Election Commission," Congress MP Manish Tewari said while speaking on electoral reforms in Lok Sabha.

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu has warned that no airline, however large, will be permitted to cause hardship to passengers.

While speaking in Lok Sabha on the IndiGo issue, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said, "Revised flight duty time limitations scientifically designed to prevent pilot fatigue are being implemented. Safety and civil aviation are completely non-negotiable."

He added, "IndiGo disruptions are now stabilising and we are monitoring the situation closely."

Union Minister Nityanand Rai has told Lok Sabha that 29 Maoist leaders have been killed since 2019.

"1,106 left-wing extremism cadres are dead; 7,311 have been arrested, while 5,571 Maoists have surrendered," he said while responding to a supplementary during Question Hour.

Rai said the number of affected states has gone down to five from 10.

He also said the number of districts hit by left-wing extremism has also gone down from 126 to 11.

Electoral reforms will be at the centre of an extended and politically charged debate in the Lok Sabha today as the House sets aside 10 hours for a detailed discussion during the Winter Session of Parliament. 

The time has been evenly divided between the ruling side and the Opposition, underlining the importance attached to the issue.

The discussion is scheduled to begin at 1:00 pm and will cover a wide range of concerns, including the role of the Election Commission, transparency in campaign spending, curbing the entry of candidates with criminal backgrounds, the reliability of electronic voting machines, and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launched a strong attack against the Congress in Parliament, alleging "fragmentation" of Vande Mataram and appeasement politics.

Addressing the Lok Sabha during the discussion on the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram, Rajnath Singh said that the National Anthem found a place in the national consciousness, but the National Song was "marginalised."

"Today, it has to be accepted that the justice that should have been done to Vande Mataram did not happen. National Anthem and National Song were to be given an equal place, but one found a place in the national consciousness, while the other was marginalised. It was treated like an extra," he said.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, taking a dig at the ruling BJP, said, "Since you keep talking about Nehru, let's do one thing, let's assign a time for a discussion, list out all the insults against him, debate it and let's close the chapter for once and all. Like we are debating Vande Mataram in the Parliament, instead of the real issues, let's debate on Nehru".

"Nehru has been in jail for 12 years, the same time span that PM Modi has been the Prime Minister for. You keep criticising me. But, if he hadn't created the ISRO, there wouldn't have been a Mangalyaan, how would the government have managed to contain coronavirus, if he hadn't started the AIIMs," said Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

"Questioning national song is an insult to freedm fighters and an attack on the Constitution," said Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

"You are here for election, we are here for the country. Even if we keep losing elections, we will keep sitting here and fighting you," Priyanka Gandhi Vadra slams BJP MPs amid uproar.

"People of this country are not happy. They are surrounded with several issues and the government is not addressing this," said Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

"Vande Mataram is a part of India's soul," said Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

"Why are we debating this? This is our national song.We are debating this keeping Bengal in mind and to distract people from other issues. This government wants people to ignore present and future and just keep looking back at the past," she added.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday gave a four-word reply to the debate on the national song 'Vande Mataram' in the Parliament - "Priyanka ka bhashan suno" (Listen to Priyanka Gandhi's speech).

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee criticised PM Narendra Modi's remarks in the Lok Sabha regarding the inclusion of only a section of the famous Bengali author Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's Vande Mataram as the Indian National Song, claiming that the BJP was unnecessarily politicising the matter.

"It was Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, who identified the portion of Vande Mataram for the National Song. BJP had objections even to that. They have objections to everything. At times they oppose Gurudev, and at times they oppose Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose," the Chief Minister told reporters.

Amid an intense debate in the Lok Sabha during the Winter Session over Vande Mataram, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Sambit Patra said that PM Narendra Modi had "exposed the Congress party's betrayal" of the national song during his address in Parliament.

Patra said senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were absent from the House during the discussion because they carried a "sense of guilt" over the party's historical stance on Vande Mataram.

"PM Modi in his speech today exposed Congress' betrayal of 'Vande Mataram'...At the time when such an important debate on Vande Mataram was taking place in the Parliament, both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were not present in the House because of the sense of guilt they had in their hearts due to the betrayal committed with Vande Mataram. They knew they would not be able to take it," he said.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of trying to "own everything and claiming exclusive nationalism", which was in fact "Rashtra-vivadi (anti-national)."

In his address during a special session of the Lok Sabha to commemorate 150 years of 'Vande Mataram', he said the national song belongs to every Indian and cannot be politicised.

Yadav said, "When in Kolkata, Congress leaders and Rabindranath Tagore sang this, it reached the common people, and when people fought against the British, the slogan of Vande Mataram played a major role in uniting them."

He added, "When the British got panicked by this slogan, they used to put people in prison under anti-national cases. From 1905 to 1908, Vande Mataram was banned by the British, but they were not able to stop our revolution, and our freedom fighters kept taking it forward."

While speaking in Lok Sabha on Vande Mataram debate, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "The politics of the Muslim League opposing Vande Mataram took pace in 1937. Mohammed Ali Jinnah raised slogans against it. The then Congress chief Jawaharlal Nehru, instead of condemning their statements and expressing his and the party's fidelity towards Vande Mataram, started 'investigating' Vande Mataram just five days after Jinnah's opposition."

The debate in Parliament is part of the year-long celebrations on the 150th anniversary of 'Vande Mataram', a poem written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while speaking in Lok Sabha said, "We should take pride that nowhere in the history of the world has there been a song or poetry that inspired crores of people for centuries and motivated them to sacrifice for a cause. The entire world must know that we had such people even in the time of slavery. We should take pride, and then the world will start to believe."

PM Narendra Modi on Vande Mataram debate in Parliament said, "There is no leadership and opposition here. We are here to appreciate and accept the debt of Vande Mataram collectively. It is because of this song that we are all here together. It is a sacred occasion for all of us to acknowledge the debt of Vande Mataram. It united the nation from North to South and from East to West. The time has come to unite again and move together with everyone. This song should inspire and energise us to fulfil the dreams of our freedom fighters. We need to reiterate the resolve to make our nation self-reliant and developed by 2047." 

Speaking in Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "I thank the members of the House for taking part in this important discussion collectively. It is important that we are discussing Vande Mataram, which inspired the freedom struggle."He added, "Remembering sacred Vande Mataram today is a great privilege for all of us in this House. We are sitting here because lakhs chanted Vande Mataram and fought for Independence. When Vande Mataram completed 50 years, country was under colonial rule and at its 100th anniversary the nation was under Emergency."

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Kathir Anand on Monday said that his party will participate in the debate in Parliament on 150 years of Vande Mataram during the ongoing Winter Session and is prepared to face arguments on the matter.

"We are going to have a discussion, and DMK will face arguments; we will see what happens afterwards," the DMK MP Anand told ANI.

Ahead of a special discussion in Parliament on the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Monday said she hopes for a comprehensive discussion on Vande Mataram in the Parliament.

"It's a good thing that the Prime Minister will come and discuss Vande Mataram. Vande Mataram and Jai Hind are two slogans connected to the country's culture and the freedom struggle. The same government that issued a notification in the Rajya Sabha banning the use of these slogans, when it discusses them, it seems ridiculous. I hope there will be a comprehensive discussion on Vande Mataram... I hope this doesn't turn into an agenda, keeping the West Bengal elections in mind, and that the discussion should rise above politics and prioritise the country first," Chaturvedi told ANI.

The Congress party has named eight speakers for the Lok Sabha debate today, which marks the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram. The leaders include Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Gaurav Gogoi, Deepender Hooda, Dr. Bimol Akoijam, Praniti Shinde, Prashant Padole, Chamala Kiran Reddy, and Jyotsana Mahant. 

The discussion is part of the year-long celebrations marking the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram, written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and set to tune by Jadunath Bhattacharya. Prime Minister Modi had earlier criticised the Congress, accusing it of removing key stanzas from the song in 1937 and sowing the seeds of partition.

The Lok Sabha will also take up a debate on election reforms on Tuesday and Wednesday, covering various aspects of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The Rajya Sabha will hold its debate on election reforms on Wednesday and Thursday.