Congress resolution to sing only two stanzas of Vande Mataram sparks BJP backlash

BJP president Nitin Nabin has accused the Congress of becoming the "new Muslim League" after its working committee formally resolved to sing only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram at party events.

The controversy erupted a day after the Congress Working Committee on Wednesday invoked a 1937 resolution of the party's highest decision-making body, deciding that only two stanzas of the National Song would be performed at all Congress forums going forward.

'Insult to martyrs who sacrificed their lives'

In a Hindi-language post on X on Thursday, Nabin described the move as an affront to India's freedom fighters. "This insult to the sacred invocation of 'Bharat Mata' is a disdain for those thousands of martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the nation, keeping this very song in their consciousness," he wrote.

The BJP chief said the Congress had now "formalised its insult (to Vande Mataram) into a resolution," claiming the party had crossed a line from isolated incidents to official policy.

Reference to Independence Day row

Nabin appeared to allude to a recent dispute during the Congress's Independence Day event on August 15, when the full version of Vande Mataram was reportedly at the centre of a row. He said the same "insult to the national song" had been visible in an "individual's conduct" a few days earlier, which the Congress had dismissed as mere "coincidence".

"Today, that very insult has become the Congress's policy," the BJP president said.

Allegation of vote-bank politics

Nabin framed the Congress decision as a calculated electoral strategy rather than a matter of principle. "This is not merely a political defence, but proof of the hunger for that vote bank at the altar of which the Congress has repeatedly mortgaged the nation's self-respect," he said.

The Congress Working Committee's August 19 resolution revives a decision taken by the party nearly nine decades ago, though the political context and implications of reaffirming it now have drawn sharp criticism from the BJP.

Source: The Hindu