After Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated the debate in Parliament to mark 150 years of Vande Mataram , the Opposition on Monday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to “own” and politicise the patriotic song.

In his speech, Modi said that the “mantra of Vande Mataram ” had given strength and inspiration to the freedom movement and claimed that the song had been sidelined earlier.

He also alleged that the Congress had compromised on the use of the song “under the guise of secularism and communal harmony”, calling it an example of the party’s “appeasement politics”.

Vande Mataram was written in Sanskrit by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 1875 and is a popular patriotic song from India’s freedom movement.

The prime minister said in Parliament that his government would “r

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