NEW DELHI: West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday slammed Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi over the controversy surrounding the recitation of Vande Mataram at the Congress headquarters on Independence Day, saying the ‘Entire Bengal fuming, Congress must apologise’.Adhikari also accused the Congress of indulging in “appeasement politics”.“It’s appeasement politics, Cong trying to satisfy particular vote bank,” he said while further adding that it’s an insult to nationalism, and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.
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The row erupted after visuals from the August 15 event showed senior Congress leaders speaking among themselves while Vande Mataram was being recited.BJP leaders has lodged a formal complaint against at the Urwa Police Station in Karnataka.Congress rejects allegationsThe Congress has rejected the charge and said there was no attempt to stop the rendition.Maintaining that the allegations are baseless, the party said there was no attempt to stop the full version of Vande Mataram and that Sonia Gandhi was only trying to ensure proper arrangements at the event, including asking for a chair for Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who had been standing.In a first for Independence Day celebrations, Vande Mataram, with all six stanzas, was rendered at the Red Fort complex on August 15, followed by the national anthem.
