Mallikarjun Kharge accuses BJP of misleading house on Vande Mataram, defending Nehru
New Delhi: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday accused BJP leaders of misleading the Rajya Sabha over facts related to Vande Mataram. He asserted that the Congress requires no lessons from the ruling party on nationalism, patriotism, or the national song.
Kharge alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have repeatedly disrespected former Congress leaders, including India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
Participating in a Rajya Sabha discussion on Vande Mataram, Kharge said the Prime Minister had “misled the House” regarding past correspondence between Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose. He added that leaders who did not sing Vande Mataram during the freedom struggle are “now singing the national song”.
Kharge said BJP’s allegations against Congress leaders are “far from the truth” and demanded an apology. He argued that the country is facing serious issues, declining rupee value, unemployment and economic stress, which should be prioritised instead of unnecessary controversies.
He criticised attempts to “divert attention” by targeting Nehru, stating that such attacks disrespect not only Nehru but also national icons such as Rabindranath Tagore and Bose, as well as freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives.
Kharge claimed he has been singing Vande Mataram for 60 years and highlighted that the Congress has a long tradition of singing the national song at party conventions, making it an anthem of the freedom struggle. He noted that the Congress Working Committee, including Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose and Madan Mohan Malviya, had decided to recite only the first two verses.
The Congress chief also accused non-Congress parties of failing to participate in the freedom struggle and said some had even “disrespected the Constitution” by burning copies alongside effigies of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.
He reiterated that Congress has always respected Vande Mataram, recalling that a special postage stamp was released during Indira Gandhi’s tenure to mark the song’s 100th anniversary.
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ISRO invites proposals from Indian researchers to study data from Aditya-L1 mission
New Delhi (PTI): The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Thursday that it is inviting proposals from the Indian solar physics community to access data from the Aditya-L1 mission, the first space-based Indian mission to study the Sun.
This is the second such formal call from ISRO for Indian scientists to access the Aditya-L1 mission data; the first call was made in January.
"At present, there are over 27 TB of data in the public domain, and several important scientific results have been published in international peer-reviewed journals. To further maximise the scientific return from this unique mission, the ISRO has released the second Announcement of Opportunity (AO) inviting proposals from the Indian solar physics community for Aditya-L1 observation time," the ISRO said in a statement.
Proposals can be submitted by Indian scientists and researchers based at institutes, universities, or colleges in India. The applicants should be involved in research in the area of solar science and equipped to submit proposals as principal investigators for solar observations with the necessary scientific and technical justification.
The approved observations for this second AO cycle will take place between July and September.
Launched in September 2023, the Aditya-L1 mission was successfully inserted into a halo orbit around the first Lagrangian point (L1) in the Sun-Earth system in January 2024. This L1 point, located around 1.5 million km away from Earth, offers the unique advantage of continuous, uninterrupted observation of the Sun, free from eclipses or occultation.
The Aditya-L1 mission carries seven scientific payloads -- four for remote sensing and three for in-situ measurements.
"The remote sensing instruments observe different layers of the Sun, including the photosphere, chromosphere, and corona, using various wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation," ISRO said.
The in-situ payloads, including particle detectors and magnetometers, collect data on the space environment around L1.
