Responding to the BJP’s resolution passed on Saturday (August 22, 2026) condemning the Congress Working Committee’s decision to re-adopt its 1937 resolution restricting the singing of “Vande Mataram” to its first two stanzas at Congress programmes, Congress president and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders had not sung the full version of the song all these years and why the issue had suddenly become important.

“Mr. Modi was Chief Minister of Gujarat for 13-and-a-half years. He has completed 12 years as Prime Minister of India. Why didn’t he sing the full version of the song all these years? Why didn’t the BJP Chief Ministers in other States sing the full version?” he asked.

Ploy to polarise people

Addressing a public meeting at Kalaburagi, where the Kannada version of a commemorative volume on him was released, Mr. Kharge reiterated his party’s position on the issue and said neither he nor the Congress needed lessons in patriotism from those who, according to him, had “served the British” while the Congress was fighting for the country’s independence.

“After all national leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Abul Kalam Azad, Vallabhbhai Patel and even Rabindranath Tagore, had agreed, it was finally decided in the Congress Working Committee to sing only two of the six stanzas of Vande Mataram and one of the five stanzas of Jana Gana Mana. That is what has been followed for the last 90 years. Even Mr. Modi sang them [in accordance with the Congress decision],” Mr. Kharge said.

He accused the BJP of raising the issue at the behest of the RSS to polarise people and consolidate votes. He cautioned that changing the national anthem or national song whenever governments changed at the Centre would undermine respect for the patriotic songs.

“Now you have come up with a new term, ‘Dimaagi Naxal’, to put a terrorist label on intellectuals. If you continue to do this, the youth of this country, who have risen now, will chase and beat you,” he said.

Attacking the BJP for equating the Congress with the Muslim League, Mr. Kharge said the Jan Sangh, the predecessor of the BJP, had allied with the Muslim League and contested elections in Punjab, Bengal and other provinces.

‘Purification’ ritual

Recalling the “purification” ritual allegedly conducted by BJP activists at Ramlila Maidan in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, on August 10 after he addressed a public meeting there, Mr. Kharge said the ritual was seemingly intended to generate publicity, mobilise Hindutva forces and consolidate votes. “No ritual can change me or my ideology, which is based on Ambedkar’s thought of equality, Nehru’s scientific outlook and secularism,” he asserted.

Published - August 22, 2026 06:03 pm IST