BJP MP Claims Jana Gana Mana British

A political controversy erupted in India after Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri, a India — Bharatiya Janata Party MP, claimed that Jana Gana Mana, the country's national anthem, was composed to welcome the British. These remarks were made during an event celebrating 150 years of Vande Mataram. Priyank Kharge, a minister from the India — Indian National Congress, strongly refuted Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri's claims, calling them 'utter nonsense' and 'WhatsApp history'. Priyank Kharge provided historical clarifications, stating that Rabindranath Tagore composed Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata in 1911, with its first stanza becoming Jana Gana Mana, and that Tagore himself clarified in 1937 and 1939 that it hailed the 'Dispenser of India's destiny' and not any British monarch like George V. Priyank Kharge also accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological fount of the India — Bharatiya Janata Party, of having a tradition of disrespecting the Constitution, the Tricolour, and the National Anthem.