Mangaluru: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vikas Puttur, from Karnataka, filed a police complaint in Mangaluru on Sunday, against the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s conduct during the rendition of the national song ‘Vande Mataram’ at the party’s Independence Day event.
A major controversy erupted after a video from the Independence Day event at Indira Bhawan in Delhi, showed Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Sonia Gandhi gesturing and speaking among themselves. Both the senior leaders then called a party worker and apparently instructed him something.
BJP leader Vikas Puttur, speaking to newsmen, accused the Congress top brass of insulting the national song Vande Mataram because of inherent opposition to it and approached a police station to lodge complaint.
“The whole of India witnessed yesterday the actions of the Congress party. Yesterday, Vande Mataram was being played during the flag-hoisting ceremony at the Congress headquarters. During this, Sonia Gandhi ji interrupted the event, and we have seen, the entire nation has seen, that she was obstructing and instructing her party cadres to stop Vande Mataram,” he said.
Referring to the recent Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Act, 2026, that makes any obstruction to the rendition of the national song a criminal offence, Puttur said: “Today the Vande Mataram is equivalent to our national anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’. Whoever insults (the national song) irrespective of their power or position, it attracts penal action. Hence, I have placed an official complaint with the Urwa Police Station to take penal action against Sonia Gandhi and to file an FIR.”
He further asserted: “If at all, the state Congress government and the police fails, I would be filing a PCR (Private Complaint Register) at the Karnataka High Court. I have full faith in the judicial system and the court, and we will ensure that Sonia Gandhi ji comes under law.”
Earlier in the day, BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari remarked that the conduct of the Congress leaders during the rendition of the national song, reflects a “dimagi naxal mindset”.
A day ago, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh defended Sonia Gandhi, saying “There was no attempt to stop it (the song). Because the Congress President (Kharge) had been standing for a long time, Sonia Gandhi was saying, ‘Bring a chair for him and place it there’.”
(IANS)
