Karnataka BJP MP and former speaker of the state Legislative Assembly, Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri, has stirred a controversy by suggesting that the Indian national anthem Jana Gana Mana—composed by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore—was a welcome song for British officials during colonial rule.
Kageri, the MP from the coastal Karnataka Lok Sabha constituency of Uttara Kannada, made the controversial remarks at an event to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the composition of Vande Mataram on Thursday.
“I will not venture to dig up history again. If we look back, Vande Mataram should have been our national anthem. However, our forefathers decided that Vande Mataram can be retained alongside Jana Gana Mana—a welcome song for the British officials—and we have accepted it,” Kageri said.
Priyank Kharge, Karnataka minister for IT/BT, dismissed the comments as a product of ‘WhatsApp University’. “Another day, another RSS ‘WhatsApp history’ lesson,” he said on social media, terming Kageri’s remarks “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 and 1939 that it hails the “Dispenser of India’s destiny,” and “could never be George V, George VI, or any other George”, Priyank 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 RSS mouthpiece Organizer and know that RSS has a great tradition of disrespecting the Constitution, the Tricolour and the National Anthem,” Priyank added.
Incidentally, Kageri is known to be associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and had triggered a controversy when he was a BJP MLA in Karnataka and the Speaker of the state Assembly by referring to the RSS as “our RSS”.
Story continues below this ad
While Kageri is known to be an advocate of hardcore right-wing politics, which has sway in the communally polarised coastal Karnataka region, Kharge, a Dalit leader and Ambedkarite, has been a strident critic of the RSS.