Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Monday initiate the much-awaited debate to mark 150 years of “Vande Mataram” in Parliament, paving the way for marathon discussions during the second week of the winter session.
The debate in Parliament is part of the year-long celebrations on the 150th anniversary of the national song — written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and set to tune by Jadunath Bhattacharya. The discussion, which has been allocated eight hours, will begin in the Lower House with the PM’s address on Monday, and Union home minister Amit Shah will be the opening speaker in the Rajya Sabhaon Tuesday, a person aware of the details said.
“Many important and unknown facets related to Vande Mataram come out in front of the nation,” the person added.
From the Trinamool Congress, the ruling party in West Bengal, MPs Mahua Moitra and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar will be the speakers in the Lok Sabha, while Sukhendu S Roy and Ritabrata Banerjee will address the Rajya Sabha, a senior TMC leader said, requesting anonymity. To add more weight to the debate, the MPs are set to speak in Bengal, the leader added.
The Congress has fielded its deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi, while party president Mallikarjun Kharge will be the main Opposition speaker in the Rajya Sabha.
PM Modi had recently hit out at the Congress, accusing it of removing key stanzas from the national song in 1937 and “sowing the seeds of partition”. On November 7, Modi launched year-long celebrations to commemorate the 150th year of Vande Mataram aimed especially at youth and students to deepen awareness of the song’s significance.
The Lok Sabha will also take up the debate on election reforms, which will cover all aspects of the contentious subject, including the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, on Tuesday. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will speak on electoral reforms on Tuesday, said a party leader.
The Rajya Sabha will take up the debate on Wednesday.
Last week, in a major breakthrough, the government and the Opposition had agreed to discuss the Special Intensive Review of the electoral rolls next week in the Lok Sabha, which would be preceded by a debate to mark 150th year of Vande Mataram, in a step signalling hopes of a breakthrough after two days of disruptions in the winter session.
“During the All-Party Meeting Chaired by Hon’ble Speaker Lok Sabha today, it has been decided to hold discussion in Lok Sabha on 150th Anniversary of National Song ‘Vande Mataram’ from 12 Noon on Monday 8th Dec and discussion on Election Reforms from 12 noon on Tuesday 9th Dec,” parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju had tweeted after the meeting.
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