Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 10: In a move that attracted criticism from the BJP, the Congress government in Karnataka has issued an order directing that only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram be sung at official state government programmes keeping in line with the party’s stand on the national song.
In a bid to avoid any confrontation with the Centre, the order at the same time also specified that all the six stanzas of the national song would be rendered at all official programmes attended by the President, Prime Minister or Governor, as well as at the events represented by the Central government.
The order comes amid a directive from the Centre making it mandatory to sing all six verses of Vande Mataram at official programmes. For other official state government events, the Karnataka government has instructed authorities to restrict the rendition to the opening two verses of the song.
The song, it added, played an important role in fostering nationalism, unity and patriotism during India’s freedom movement.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, has issued guidelines on the official version of the national song “Vande Mataram” and its singing or playing at various government and public functions, to be followed as appropriate for the occasion,” read a rough translation of the order issued in Kannada.
“The State Government has considered it necessary to maintain uniformity, respect, and proper protocol for the playing/singing of the national song “Vande Mataram” in accordance with the nature and context of various government programs and ceremonies held in the state,” it added.
The decision of the DK Shivakumar government reflects the party’s firm stance opposing the Union Home Ministry’s order that the national song be sung in full at official events. Last month, the Congress Working Committee decided to follow its 1937 resolution that only the first two stanzas will be sung at party events.
In February, the Centre had made it mandatory to sing the full Vande Mataram at public gatherings and official events and passed a Bill in Parliament to make it a criminal offence to disrupt or prevent the singing of the national song.
The Congress hit back saying its stand on Vande Mataram was in line with the top leadership’s decision in 1937 — made in presence of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore, Subhas Chandra Bose and Sardar Patel. After the Congress president Mllikarjun Kharge was criticised by the BJP for singing “incomplete version” of the national song at an event in Goa and the party was accused of following “appeasement” policy, he had retorted that he had sung the version sung by the leaders like Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. If singing this version was a crime, police cases should be filed against those leaders too, he had told reporters.
The BJP president Nitin Nabin on Wednesday had accused the Congress of having an “anti-India mindset” over its decision to sing only the first two stanzas of “Vande Mataram” and had targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ programmes, saying their “resonance” would not extend beyond Congress workers.
The controversy over “Vande Mataram” intensified after questions were raised over the rendition of Vande Mataram at the Congress headquarters on August 15. On August 19, the Congress Working Committee decided that only the first two stanzas would be sung at party programmes. The BJP has since stepped up its attack on the Congress, alleging that the party’s decision was aimed at minority appeasement.
Vande Mataram – penned by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in his novel Ananda Math – was first sung by Rabindranath Tagore in 1896. But Muslim League leaders objected later, calling the song anti-Islamic because of references to Hindu Goddesses. In 1937, the Congress Working Committee decided that only two stanzas of Vande Mataram would be sung.
Only on Wednesday, the “Vande Mataram” issue had also brought out a fresh political disagreement between the Congress and its Jammu and Kashmir ally, the National Conference. The row erupted after the full six-stanza version of the national song was played at the inaugural International Film Festival in Srinagar, where Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and NC president Farooq Abdullah stood through the rendition.
Congress objected to the full version, while the National Conference defended the government’s approach at official events. A previous stand by PDP leader Iltija Mufti opposing being forced to sing “Vande Mataram” has also brought the issue of freedom of conscience into the wider political debate.
The Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee chief Tariq Hameed Karra criticised alliance partner National Conference over the decision to sing the full version. He said national symbols and songs have an important place in India’s public life, but argued that they must also reflect the country’s plural character.
“It is therefore a matter of concern that our alliance partners chose to sing the full version of Vande Mataram, disregarding the considered evolution of the song’s place in India’s national life — not merely during the freedom movement, but through the constitutional journey of the Republic thereafter,” Karra said.
He said the version adopted after Independence represented a balance between preserving the song’s historical significance and respecting India’s plural ethos and constitutional guarantee of freedom of conscience.
“National symbols acquire greater dignity when they accommodate India’s diversity, not when that diversity is asked to accommodate them,” he said.
Karra stressed that his objection was not about patriotism but about the manner in which patriotism should be expressed in a diverse Republic.
“It is about the constitutional temperament with which patriotism in a diverse Republic deserves to be expressed. Our national symbols should make every Indian feel equally at home,” he added.
National Conference chief spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq pushed back against the criticism, saying the party had not formally adopted either the two-stanza or six-stanza version. He said the government and the party were separate and that official government functions were subject to the applicable rules. At the same time, Sadiq said nobody should be forced to sing the national song.
Sadiq also pointed to a rendition at an event in Congress-ruled Karnataka, sharing a video involving the then Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and asking Karra to consider the example from his own party.
The BJP has welcomed Omar and Farooq Abdullah’s decision to remain standing through all six stanzas. BJP leaders have praised the two NC leaders while attacking the Congress over its objection to the full rendition.
BJP chief spokesperson Pratul Shah Deo said the Abdullahs had respected the national song and the government’s new decision on its rendition, and argued that Congress should learn from them. Other BJP leaders also accused the Congress of putting political considerations ahead of respect for national symbols.
For the Congress and NC, however, the immediate disagreement remains focused on how the song should be rendered at official functions and what role individual choice and constitutional values should play in that process.
The episode has given the BJP another opening to attack the Congress, while exposing a fresh difference between two key partners in Jammu and Kashmir.