Bharatiya Janata Party MP Vishweshwar Hedge Kageri has claimed that the Indian national anthem, Jana Gana Mana, was written to “welcome the British”, the Deccan Herald reported on Thursday.

He added that Vande Mataram should have been chosen as the national anthem instead.

The MP from Karnataka’s Uttara Kannada made the remarks at an event in Honnavar town held to mark 150 years of Vande Mataram.

He said that Jana Gana Mana and Vande Mataram are “equal in stature”, and Vande Mataram should get the prominence it deserves.

“Its contribution to the freedom struggle must serve as an inspiration to us all,” the Deccan Herald quoted him as saying. “It must reach schools, colleges, youth and the masses.”

Jana Gana Mana was composed by Rabindranath Tagore in 1911 and adopted as India’s national anthem by the Constituent Assembly on January 24, 1950. Vande Mataram was written in Sanskrit by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 1875 and is a popular patriotic song from India’s freedom movement.

A Press Information Bureau note issued on Thursday to mark 150 years of Vande Mataram stated that the Constituent Assembly had adopted Jana Gana Mana as the national anthem and Vande Mataram as the national song.

The note quoted Rajendra Prasad, the first president, as having told the Assembly in January 1950 that Vande Mataram, because of its role in the freedom movement, “shall be honoured equally with Jana Gana Mana and shall have equal status with it”.

However, the Constitution mentions only the national anthem, not Vande Mataram.

During the event, Kageri also said: “I don’t want to revisit history…Calls to make Vande Mataram the national anthem were strong.”

“Our ancestors decided to keep Vande Mataram as well as Jana Gana Mana, which was composed to welcome the British,” the Deccan Herald quoted him as saying. “We have accepted this.”

Karnataka minister and Congress leader Priyank Kharge described Kageri’s remarks as “utter nonsense”.

“Another day, another RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] ‘WhatsApp history’ lesson,” Kharge said on social media.

The RSS is the parent organisation of the BJP.

He added that Tagore wrote Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata in 1911, the first stanza of which became Jana Gana Mana.

“It was first sung on [December 27, 1911] at the Indian National Congress in Calcutta, not as a royal tribute,” Kharge said. “Tagore also clarified in 1927 and 1939 that it hails the ‘Dispenser of India’s destiny’, and could never be George V, George VI or any other George.”

The Congress leader said that the RSS had a “tradition of disrespecting the Constitution, the tricolour and the National Anthem”.

The Trinamool Congress on Friday alleged that the BJP despised Tagore “because his universal ideals cannot be caged within their narrow, divisive and parochial mindset”.

Describing Kageri’s remarks as “disgraceful”, West Bengal’s ruling party claimed the statement exposed the deep-seated contempt the BJP has for Bengalis.

“It shows how far the self-proclaimed nationalists have drifted from the very values that define the nation,” the party said on social media. “To insult the author of our national anthem is to insult India itself, its culture, its intellect and its identity.”

Kageri’s remarks came amid a campaign by the Union government to mark 150 years of Vande Mataram. The campaign, which runs until Constitution Day on November 26, includes nationwide public recitations and cultural events.

The BJP has repeatedly invoked Vande Mataram as part of its Hindutva messaging. Over the years, the party’s calls for mandatory recitation of the song in schools and government offices have been met with resistance from sections of society that view it as an exclusionary practice particularly for minorities.

Also read: How ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was chosen over other contenders (and why Tagore may not have approved)

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