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EYE ON INDIA AUGUST 28, 2026 | The Indian Eye 6

Vande Mataram turns into a

BJP versus Congress battle over

patriotism and loyalty

The battle over how India’s national song should be sung is rapidly turning into a larger

political contest over patriotism, constitutional loyalty and the meaning of nationalism.

OUR BUREAU
NEW DELHI
ew songs in India’s political
history carry the emotional
Fand symbolic weight of Vande
Mataram. Born in the freedom move-
ment and closely associated with the
struggle against British rule, the song
has long occupied a special place in
the country’s national consciousness.
But a political controversy over how
much of it should be sung is now turn-
ing the national song into something
more contentious — a test of patrio-
tism and loyalty.
The immediate trigger is the
Congress Working Committee’s de-
cision that only the first two stanzas
of Vande Mataram would be sung at
party events, with the party citing its
1937 resolution. The BJP has seized
on the decision to accuse the Con- Members of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) stage a protest against Sonia and Rahul Gandhi over an alleged insult
gress of appeasement and of disre- to India’s National Song, “Vande Mataram,” in Shimla (ANI)
specting a song that inspired gener-
ations of freedom fighters. comes politically potent. Once the de- used according to established rules The danger for both sides is that
Union Home Minister Amit bate moves from the appropriate ren- and procedures. the debate could reduce a complex
Shah has gone further, arguing that dition of a national song to questions The Congress’s response there- historical legacy to a simple binary:
the Congress decision repeats what about who is patriotic and who is not, fore seeks to move the debate away sing the entire song and prove your
he described as a historical mistake Vande Mataram becomes a political from patriotism and towards political patriotism, or restrict its rendition and
and linking the 1937 decision to the loyalty test. priorities. Its leaders are effectively invite suspicion.
politics that preceded Partition. He The Congress, however, is resist- asking whether the country should The BJP has political reasons
has also praised the Narendra Modi ing that framing. Its argument, reflect- be debating the number of stanzas in to push the issue. Nationalism re-
government’s move to make the full ed in the statements of Congress lead- a national song when there are eco- mains one of its strongest ideological
rendition of Vande Mataram part of ers, is that there is no refusal to honour nomic and social problems demand- themes, and Vande Mataram provides
official programmes. the national song. The disagreement ing attention. a powerful historical symbol around
The political message is unmis- is over which portions should be sung Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal which that narrative can be built. The
takable: for the BJP, the full song is in- at party events and whether a histori- has taken a similar line, questioning Congress, meanwhile, cannot afford
creasingly being presented not simply cal convention should be altered. whether BJP leaders themselves have to allow the BJP to define patriotism
as a cultural or historical choice but as Himachal Pradesh minister Jagat consistently sung all the stanzas of exclusively on its terms.
an expression of national commitment. Singh Negi argued that the contro- Vande Mataram at official or private The result is a contest in which a
Union Minister Rajnath Singh versy was being manufactured to functions since Independence. His national song has become a proxy for
made the argument even more ex- promote what he called “fake na- argument is that the BJP is selectively a much larger political battle.
plicitly. He said that refusal to honour tionalism” and divert attention from using the issue for political advantage. At one level, the argument is
the national song could put a question issues such as unemployment, infla- But the BJP’s counterargument about two stanzas versus the complete
mark over a person’s patriotism, just tion, farmers’ concerns and the state’s is equally political: that the Con- song. At another, it is about compet-
as refusal to abide by parliamentary apple economy. He maintained that gress’s decision cannot be separated ing visions of India — cultural nation-
law could raise questions about con- Vande Mataram had played an im- from the history of the national song alism on one side and a more explicitly
stitutional loyalty. portant role in the freedom struggle and the circumstances surrounding its pluralist interpretation of nationalism
This is where the controversy be- but said national symbols should be partial adoption. on the other.

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