Can Sonia Gandhi throw Parliament's law in dustbin? Smriti Irani on Vande Mataram

BJP general secretary Smriti Irani attacked the Congress over the Vande Mataram row, questioning its stand on according the national song equal respect to Jana Gana Mana. She also questioned Sonia Gandhi's reaction during the Independence Day programme at the Congress headquarters while Vande Mataram was being played.Smriti Irani slams Sonia Gandhi over Vande Mataram rowBharatiya Janata Party's newly appointed national general secretary Smriti Irani on Friday lashed out at the Congress over the Vande Mataram row, questioning how the party could decide whether the national song should be accorded the same respect as Jana Gana Mana when India's first President, Rajendra Prasad, had already stated in the Constituent Assembly in 1950 that it should be given such respect.In an exclusive interview with India Today, Smriti Irani asked, "Are you telling me that once the Parliament of India opines on a particular issue and legislates on it, Sonia Gandhi has the unique right in this country to throw that legislation in the dustbin of time?"Referring to a video of an irate Sonia Gandhi speaking animatedly with Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge at the party headquarters on Independence Day while Vande Mataram was being played, Smriti Irani asked whether she had a problem with Goddess Durga or Lakshmi, who are invoked in the fifth and sixth stanzas of the full rendition of the song."So what is it that Mrs Gandhi has a problem with -- Maa Bharati or Goddess Durga?" she asked.Soon after the incident during the Independence Day programme at the Congress headquarters, party general secretary KC Venugopal said the Congress would stick to the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram at party events, in line with a 1937 resolution of the Indian National Congress Working Committee. In doing so, the Congress went against a recent Ministry of Home Affairs order mandating that all six stanzas of Vande Mataram be sung at government events and schools before Jana Gana Mana.Smriti Irani told India Today that the stanzas of Vande Mataram portray Maa Bharati as a source of knowledge, strength and nourishment, and as a manifestation of Rashtra Dharma. She said the song also invokes Maa Bhagwati, depicted as a ten-armed deity, and compares her with Maa Lakshmi as a source of prosperity. Questioning the Congress over its stand on the song, Irani asked whether Sonia Gandhi or the party had a problem with Maa Bharati being portrayed as a source of knowledge and power.She further questioned whether the Congress had an issue with the references to Goddess Durga, Goddess Lakshmi or Goddess Saraswati in the song, or whether it believed such references could conflict with another religion."So what is it that Mrs Gandhi has a problem with -- Maa Bharti or Goddess Durga?" she asked.Irani also asked what the Congress had against Maa Bharati being portrayed as a source of knowledge or power.- EndsPublished On: Aug 21, 2026 17:40 IST