New Delhi, 9 Dec 

The Congress on Tuesday invoked historian Sugata Bose’s remarks to push back against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent criticism of the party over the ‘Vande Mataram’ issue. The party claimed that the historian’s observations “further expose” the prime minister’s attempt to distort history for political gains.

Congress communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh shared on X a video clip of Bose discussing the collaboration between Subhas Chandra Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru during the All India Congress Committee meeting in Calcutta in late 1937.

“Subhas Chandra Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru worked very closely at the time of the All India Congress Committee's meeting in Calcutta in October-November of 1937. At that time both of them consulted Rabindranath Tagore on a very sensitive subject and that was the song Vande Mataram,” Sugata Bose said in the video.

“It was on Rabindranath's advice that the Congress decided at this AICC meeting that from now on, at national meetings only the first part of the song, which is a beautiful evocation of the national splendour of our country, would be performed,” he added.

Bose said Tagore believed unity in the national movement was vital and did not want “a rivalry between religious communities”. He also noted that 1937 marked “the coming together of the different strands of the Congress”, leading to Subhas Chandra Bose succeeding Nehru as Congress president in 1938.

Ramesh described Sugata Bose as “one of India’s finest historians”, highlighting his tenure as a Lok Sabha MP (2014-19) and his role as Director of the Netaji Research Bureau.

The remarks came a day after PM Modi alleged that Nehru betrayed ‘Vande Mataram’ by ceding to Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s concerns, accusing Congress of promoting appeasement politics a claim strongly rejected by the Opposition.

Priyanka Gandhi accused the BJP of committing a "big sin" by creating a controversy over "Vande Mataram" and Modi of "selectively" quoting Nehru. She also wanted the government to "understand" the real "Vande Mataram" chronology.