The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has strongly condemned the Congress's decision to restrict the singing of Vande Mataram to just two stanzas, vowing to launch a nationwide campaign to uphold the dignity and national status of the full version of India's revered national song.
Key Points
- The BJP has condemned the Congress's decision to restrict Vande Mataram to two stanzas and vowed to protect the full version of the national song.
- The ruling party plans a nationwide campaign to educate and mobilise people, especially the youth, about all six stanzas and the historical significance of Vande Mataram.
- The BJP asserts that a 1937 political compromise cannot override the 1950 constitutional settlement and the 2026 Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Act.
- The Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Act, 2026, grants Vande Mataram the same legal status as the national anthem, making disruption of its singing a criminal offence.
- BJP President Nitin Nabin stated that no compromise on Vande Mataram's honour and legacy will be accepted for political convenience or appeasement.
The BJP on Saturday condemned the Congress for its decision to sing just two stanzas of Vande Mataram and vowed to protect the dignity and the national status of the full version of the national song.
In a 10-point resolution passed at its office-bearers' meeting here, the ruling party also said it will launch a nationwide campaign to spread the significance of Vande Mataram and remind the Congress that a resolution of its working committee cannot override the constitutional institutions or laws of India.
Upholding National Honour
The BJP will also educate and mobilise people, especially the younger generation, so that all six stanzas of the national song and its history are not forgotten, and future generations understand the sacrifices, struggles and patriotic awakening with which Vande Mataram is inseparably associated, the party resolved.
A political compromise of 1937 cannot be elevated above the constitutional settlement of 1950 and legislation enacted by Parliament in 2026, the BJP said, asserting that it will disseminate Mahatma Gandhi's statement in which he described Vande Mataram as an "anti-imperialist slogan" associated with the "purest national sentiment".
The resolution comes after the Congress Working Committee on Wednesday decided to abide by its 1937 resolution on Vande Mataram, saying only two stanzas of the national song would be sung at all party events henceforth.
"Today, on 22nd August 2026, the Bharatiya Janata Party passed an important resolution regarding the honour and protection of the historical legacy of Vande Mataram," BJP president Nitin Nabin said in a post on X, sharing the party's resolution.
BJP's Stance on Vande Mataram
In its resolution, the BJP emphasised that it regards Vande Mataram as the national song of Bharat, an expression of reverence for Bharat Mata, a mantra of the freedom struggle and an immortal symbol of India's national consciousness.
"The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) therefore resolves to strongly condemn and unequivocally oppose the Congress Working Committee's decision of 19th August 2026 to reaffirm its 1937 resolution and restrict Vande Mataram to its first two stanzas at Congress programmes," the party resolution said.
It also vowed to uphold the "honour, dignity, legacy and national status" of the full version of Vande Mataram as the national song of Bharat and as an "immortal symbol" of India's national consciousness and freedom struggle.
"The BJP would oppose any attempt to subject the national song to communal pressure, political appeasement or narrow vote-bank politics, Nabin said.
"No compromise on the honour and legacy of Vande Mataram will be accepted for political convenience or appeasement," he said, adding, "This is not merely a matter concerning a political party. It concerns the honour of Bharat and the legacy of countless patriots who sacrificed for the freedom of the nation."
Historical Significance and Legal Status
Nabin said that the BJP calls upon every citizen to remember that the words Vande Mataram were once powerful enough to frighten an empire.
"The British sought to suppress them because they awakened resistance. Generations of Indians carried them as a mantra of freedom, sacrifice and national pride. That legacy cannot be reduced to the calculations of contemporary vote-bank politics," he said.
He stated that Vande Mataram, which echoed the call for freedom in 1947, would continue to resonate in the vision of a developed India by 2047.
On July 30, Parliament passed the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Act, 2026, which grants Vande Mataram the same legal status as the national anthem, Jana Gana Mana.
Under the amended law, intentionally disrupting or preventing the singing of Vande Mataram is a criminal offence punishable with up to 3 years of imprisonment, a fine, or both.
"It is a striking historical irony that the same Vande Mataram which the British sought to suppress for awakening resistance against colonial rule was, decades later, restricted by the Congress to only two of its six stanzas in the name of communal appeasement," the BJP resolution noted.
The Congress once recognised the "national significance" of Vande Mataram, but subsequently yielded to "growing communal pressure", it added.
