• Wion
  • /Videos
  • /Vande Mataram Row: BJP Slams Congress As Political Battle Over National Song Intensifies

Vande Mataram Row: BJP Slams Congress As Political Battle Over National Song Intensifies

A major political confrontation is unfolding between the BJP and Congress over Vande Mataram, with the national song becoming the latest flashpoint in India’s political debate. BJP president Nitin Nabin has sharply criticised the Congress Working Committee’s decision to continue singing only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram at party events. Nabin accused the Congress of compromising national sentiment and called the party a “new Muslim League.” The Congress has defended its position by citing a 1937 Congress Working Committee resolution, arguing that leaders of the freedom movement, including Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore, supported limiting public renditions to the first two stanzas. The controversy intensified following an Independence Day event at the Congress headquarters, where a video involving Sonia Gandhi sparked competing claims from the BJP and Congress over the full rendition of the national song.