Jana Gana Mana was composed to welcome British, claims BJP MP; Priyank Kharge calls it 'nonsense'
Bengaluru: Uttara Kannada BJP MP and former Karnataka Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri has stirred controversy by claiming that Jana Gana Mana, India’s national anthem, was written “to welcome the British.”
Speaking at an event in Honnavar to commemorate 150 years of Vande Mataram, Kageri said both Vande Mataram and Jana Gana Mana held equal importance. “There were strong demands to make Vande Mataram the national anthem. But our ancestors decided to keep both Vande Mataram and Jana Gana Mana, which was composed to welcome the British. We have accepted this,” he said.
Reacting sharply, Karnataka Minister for Panchayat Raj and IT-BT Priyank Kharge dismissed Kageri’s claim as “utter nonsense” and a “WhatsApp history lesson” inspired by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Citing historical facts, Kharge noted that Rabindranath Tagore had written Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata in 1911, and its first stanza later became Jana Gana Mana.
“It was first sung on 27 December 1911 at the Indian National Congress in Calcutta—not as a royal tribute. Tagore also clarified in 1937 & 1939 that it hails the ‘Dispenser of India’s destiny’ and ‘could never be George V, George VI, or any other George’,” Priyank said in a post on X on Thursday.
Another day, another RSS “WhatsApp history” lesson.@BJP4Karnataka MP Sri. Kageri now claims our National Anthem is “British.”
— Priyank Kharge / ಪ್ರಿಯಾಂಕ್ ಖರ್ಗೆ (@PriyankKharge) November 6, 2025
Utter Nonsense.
•Sri. Tagore wrote the hymn Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata in 1911; its first stanza became Jana Gana Mana.
•it was first sung on 27 Dec… pic.twitter.com/oimSw8IQvl
Kharge further urged BJP and RSS members to “revisit history” by reading the editorials of the RSS mouthpiece Organizer, accusing the RSS of having “a great tradition of disrespecting the Constitution, the Tricolour, and the National Anthem.”
“This viRSS needs to be cured,” he said, taking a swipe at the organisation.
The Union government is celebrating 150 years of Vande Mataram. According to the Press Information Bureau, it is believed that Bankimchandra Chatterji wrote it during the “auspicious occasion of Akshaya Navami” on November 7, 1875.
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Sangh Parivar still afraid of Mahatma Gandhi: Kerala CM
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi on his 78th death anniversary and claimed that the Sangh Parivar was still afraid of him and his memory and that is why his name was removed from the rural employment guarantee scheme.
Vijayan, in a Facebook post, said that Gandhi was killed because of his uncompromising stance on secularism and his vision of a pluralistic India that embraces diversity and disagreement.
He claimed that the Sangh Parivar was afraid of the memory of the Father of the Nation and hence his name was removed from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
"Why are they still afraid of Gandhiji? The answer is simple. Gandhiji's life and vision are the exact opposite of the politics of hatred and alienation envisioned by the Sangh Parivar," the CM contended.
He further claimed that the Sangh Parivar was trying to remove Gandhi from the lives of the ordinary people.
Vijayan said that unity in diversity was "the foundation stone of the Indian Republic" and everyone should be committed to protecting it from the "totalitarian tendencies that suppress dissent".
He claimed that there were certain forces which were trying to "rewrite history and elevate communal murderers as heroes" in order to lead the country towards totalitarianism.
The Marxist veteran said that Gandhi was "not assassinated by a man named Godse, but by an embodiment of the politics of hatred promoted by the Sangh Parivar" which is still trying to attack and destroy the Constitution and the democratic values of the country.
He said that Gandhi's martyrdom was a constant call for the anti-communal struggle.
Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan too claimed that the Sangh Parivar was afraid of Gandhi.
In his message on Facebook paying tribute to the Father of the Nation, Satheesan said that Sangh Parivar was even afraid of the memories of Gandhi and that is why they were "erasing books and writings" to hide things from people.
He too said that the assassin of Gandhi was not just a man, but an ideology.
Satheesan said that even though the Sangh Parivar shot him down, Gandhi still lives on after his death.
Gandhi, the most prominent face of India's freedom movement, was assassinated by Nathuram Godse on this day in 1948.
