Vande Mataram Controversy: Jaipur. While addressing a public meeting in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has made a serious allegation against the Congress of insulting the national song 'Vande Mataram' on the occasion of Independence Day.

Amit Shah, targeting the Congress party, said, "Look at their shamelessness. The national anthem 'Vande Mataram' was being sung at the Congress party headquarters. During the song, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi asked the Congress president to stop the song.

"We all just stared at the TV. Soniaji, 1.4 billion people are watching you. The people of this country will never forgive you for the sin you have committed. How could anyone even dream of leaving the song 'Vande Mataram' incomplete? The Congress people should be ashamed."

Congress should apologize- Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday accused the Congress of insulting the national song "Vande Mataram" and demanded that the party apologise to the people and to Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, who wrote the song. He alleged that during an Independence Day function at the Congress headquarters, party leader Sonia Gandhi had asked for the "Vande Mataram" song to be stopped midway.

The Home Minister alleged that Congress had forgotten "Vande Mataram" due to vote-bank politics. Shah said, "We all saw it on television," and said Sonia Gandhi should apologize to the people and to the immortal soul of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.

Referring to Saturday's Independence Day celebrations, Shah said that 80 years after independence, 'Vande Mataram' was sung at the Red Fort and at all the places where the flag was hoisted. "Thousands of people faced bullets, lathi charges and went to jail for singing 'Vande Mataram,'" Shah said, referring to the revolutionary slogan's use during the freedom struggle.