"Yeh Himmat Hogayi?" Rajnath Singh Loses Cool At Opposition MPs In Lok Sabha

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, while delivering a blistering speech on 'Vande Mataram' in the Lok Sabha on Monday, lost his cool at Opposition lawmakers who interrupted him.

A video shows the Opposition MPs asking him to stop, with Singh furiously asking them: "Kaun baithanewala hai? Kaun baithayega?" (Who is going to make me sit?). Angrily, he asked, "Kya baat kar rahe ho...baith! Yeh himmat hogayi?" (What are you even saying? Sit down! How dare you?). Many BJP leaders can also be heard shouting at the lawmakers, asking them how they asked the minister to sit down.

Singh then asked the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to intervene - who gestured to the Opposition MPs to remain calm.

#Watch | "Kaun Baithayega?" : Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh Loses Cool At Opposition MPs During 'Vande Mataram' Debate In Lok Sabha pic.twitter.com/0t7xi62uEI

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Singh, in his speech, slammed the Congress for "fragmentation" of the national song 'Vande Mataram' due to its "appeasement politics" that started in the days of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

"Restoring the glory of Vande Mataram is the need of the hour and also a demand of morality. Justice that should have been done to 'Vande Mataram' did not happen, and unequal treatment was given to the national anthem and the national song," he said.

The "injustice to Vande Mataram was not an isolated incident, but a beginning to the appeasement politics by Congress", he said, adding that it was not just an injustice to a song but to the people of independent India.

According to the Defence Minister, the time had come for an unbiased evaluation of Vande Mataram and asserted that the entire song and the book, Anand Math, were never "anti-Islam," but reflected the popular sentiments against the Nawab of Bengal and British imperialism. "Now is the time for an unbiased evaluation of Vande Mataram and its history. Everyone has heard the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram, but many are not familiar with the rest. Most parts of the original version have been forgotten, and those stanzas depict the essence of India," he said.

What PM Modi said in Parliament

Prime Minister Narendra Modi kick-started the debate on 'Vande Mataram' in the Lok Sabha on Monday, highlighting the contribution of the song written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and first published in the literary journal Bangadarshan on November 7, 1875, to the freedom struggle.

"Vande Mataram is not just a mantra for political freedom; it was a sacred war cry to rid Bharatmata of vestiges of colonialism. It is a matter of pride for us that we are witnessing the historic occasion of 'Vande Mataram' completing 150 years. The British divided Bengal in 1905, but 'Vande Mataram' stood like a rock and inspired unity," he said.

Hitting out at the Congress, PM Modi said, "When 'Vande Mataram' completed 100 years, the nation was chained by the Emergency. At that time, the Constitution was throttled, and those who lived and died for patriotism were pushed behind prison bars. The Emergency was a dark chapter in our history. Now we have the opportunity to restore the greatness of 'Vande Mataram'. And I believe this opportunity should not be allowed to pass."

The debate came a month after a political row broke out when the PM accused the Congress of dropping important stanzas of 'Vande Mataram' during the 1937 session of the party in Faizabad. The Congress, however, claimed the decision was based on the advice of Rabindranath Tagore and amounted to the accommodation of feelings of members from other communities and faiths.

Responding to the debate, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accused the Centre of highlighting the matter in view of the coming assembly election in Bengal and evading the real issues. She also accused PM Modi of "selectively" quoting Jawaharlal Nehru, and suggested that the BJP list out the insults for Nehru, set aside a time to debate it, and close the chapter.

"Let us use the precious time of this Parliament for the job people have elected us for," she said.