The Congress on Wednesday said that the party would sing only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram at its functions, citing a Congress Working Committee resolution from 1937.

The resolution had adopted the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram as the national song and omitted the remaining four as they invoked Hindu goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati.

There was “no confusion” about the Congress’ position, said party leader KC Venugopal at a press conference after a meeting of the working committee on Wednesday.

The party will “abide by the decisions” taken by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore, Subhas Chandra Bose and Sardar Patel to limit the rendition of Vande Mataram to the first two stanzas.

A row had broken out after the Bharatiya Janata Party alleged that Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi disrupted the singing of Vande Mataram at the party’s Independence Day event in Delhi.

A video from the function showed Sonia Gandhi gesturing and speaking to a party worker while the full version of Vande Mataram was being played. It was not clear what she was saying.

On Monday, the Delhi Police said that it was looking into a complaint alleging that the two Congress leaders intentionally obstructed the singing of the national song.

This came days after the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Amendment Act, which criminalises insults to the national song, came into effect.

On Wednesday, Venugopal accused the BJP of treating matters related to Vande Mataram and the national anthem as “political issues”.

On January 28, the Union home ministry directed that all six stanzas of the Vande Mataram be sung first when it is played together with the national anthem Jana Gana Mana.

Only the first two stanzas of the national song had been played at official functions earlier.

The BJP has long alleged that the Congress had agreed to drop the four stanzas to “appease Muslims”.

In December, Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised the Congress in Parliament, alleging that Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, had supported Muhammad Ali Jinnah in opposing Vande Mataram when the resolution was adopted because it could “irritate Muslims”.

Written by Sara Varghese. Edited by Sneha.

Also read: Does ‘Vande Mataram’ need the threat of criminal law to be honoured?

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