BJP and Congress Clash Over Vande Mataram Rendition

The Indian National Congress Working Committee resolved on August 20, 2026, to sing only the first two stanzas of the national song, Vande Mataram, at party events. The party cited a 1937 resolution, supported by Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, which omitted four verses containing religious references to avoid communal friction. This decision follows allegations from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that Congress leaders, including Mallikarjun Kharge and Sonia Gandhi, disrupted the song's rendition during Independence Day celebrations in Delhi.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh condemned the move as an extreme policy of appeasement. Shah argued that the 1937 decision fueled the two-nation theory and contributed to the Partition of India, while Singh described the refusal to honor the full song as unconstitutional and a sign of suspected disloyalty to the Constitution. BJP leaders further labeled the Congress the new Muslim League, claiming the party is prioritizing specific vote banks over national honor.

Congress leaders defended the practice as a historical tradition of the freedom struggle. General Secretary K.C. Venugopal and Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge accused the BJP of using national symbols as diversionary tactics to mask governance failures, such as paper leaks and unemployment. The dispute coincides with the recent enactment of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which grants Vande Mataram the same legal protection as the national anthem and criminalizes its disruption.