New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will kick off a special discussion in Lok Sabha on Monday to mark 150 years of ‘Vande Mataram’ as part of an exercise that promises to highlight many lesser-known facets related to the patriotic song.

PM Modi is also likely to highlight 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, its historical significance and current relevance.

PM Modi’s thoughts about Vande Mataram are keenly awaited by the Opposition members, as well as last month, during an event to commemorate the song’s anniversary, he accused the Congress of “removing important stanzas” from the original song in the 1937 session of the party in Faizabad.

PM Modi had said that the Congress’s decision sowed the seeds of Partition and dissected the national song into pieces. 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.

The discussion on Vande Mataram in the Rajya Sabha is likely to be initiated by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday.

As per the schedule related to the Vande Mataram debate, the ruling NDA members have been allotted three hours out of the total 10 hours earmarked in Lok Sabha for it.

Earlier, a political confrontation erupted just before the start of the Winter Session as the Rajya Sabha Secretariat reiterated that MPs must refrain from using expressions such as ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Jai Hind’ inside Parliament to maintain decorum.

The Opposition accused the BJP-led NDA of being uncomfortable with symbols of India’s Independence and unity.

The Winter Session of Parliament is scheduled to continue till December 19, and the discussion on ‘Vande Mataram’ is likely to be a noisy one in the coming days due to differences in opinion about the song between the treasury and opposition benches.

–IANS

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