Vande Mataram Row Escalates: Nitin Nabin Calls Congress ‘New Muslim League’ Over Two-Stanza Rule

BJP president Nitin Nabin has branded the Congress the “new Muslim League”, escalating the political battle over the party’s decision to sing only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram at its programmes.

Nabin accused the Congress of turning what the BJP had initially described as an insult to the national song into formal party policy. He alleged that the decision exposed the Opposition party’s “hunger” for a vote bank before which it had repeatedly “pawned the nation’s self-respect”.

“The Congress has now formalised its insult into a resolution,” Nabin wrote on X. “Today, that very insult has become the Congress’s policy.” He claimed the decision showed contempt for freedom fighters who had carried Vande Mataram through India’s Independence movement.

The attack followed the Congress Working Committee’s decision to reaffirm the party’s 1937 position that only the first two stanzas of the national song would be rendered at Congress events.

The CWC revisited the policy after the BJP accused Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi of talking during the rendition of Vande Mataram at the party headquarters on August 15. BJP leaders demanded an apology and accused the Congress leadership of disrespecting the national song.

Congress general secretary KC Venugopal rejected the charge and said the party would continue following the decision taken by its leaders in 1937. “Our stand is very clear,” Venugopal said. “Whatever decision they took, we have decided that. Congress party workers will do that only.”

The Congress argues that the position was adopted by its senior leadership in October 1937 after consultations involving Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Subhas Chandra Bose, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Rabindranath Tagore.

According to media reports, Tagore had advised Nehru that the opening two stanzas could stand independently as a national invocation, while later passages contained religious and mythological imagery that might not command universal acceptance at national gatherings.

The controversy has resurfaced after the Centre introduced a protocol requiring all six stanzas to be rendered at official functions. The Congress has chosen to retain its historic two-stanza practice at party events, setting up a direct political confrontation with the BJP. The Congress says it is defending a position shaped by leaders of the freedom movement. The BJP says the CWC has converted appeasement into official policy.

What began as a dispute over conduct during a song has now become another battle over patriotism, history and political identity.

(With inputs from ANI)