Srinagar: A political storm has erupted in India over the rendition of the full version of Vande Mataram at a government event in Srinagar, drawing sharp responses from across the political spectrum.
The controversy began after Congress objected to the full version of the national song being played at Jammu and Kashmir’s international film festival, where Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah were present.
Congress general secretary KC Venugopal posted on X that the full version of Vande Mataram “sits uneasily with the syncretic and pluralist ethos that our freedom fighters envisioned and nurtured for India.” He cited the judgment of leaders including Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, Maulana Azad, Sardar Patel, and Rabindranath Tagore, urging alliance partners to sing only the truncated version of the song.
The National Conference rejected this position outright. NC leader Bashir Ahmed stated: “As alliance partner you cannot dictate terms whether to sing or how much to sing. It is people’s choice. We are against imposing anything on people.”
Congress escalated the dispute by accusing the Abdullahs of bowing to RSS influence. “Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah are part of the INDIA alliance. Being alliance partners, they should respect Congress decisions and not Nagpur’s decisions,” said Congress leader Kapil Singh.
The BJP seized on the row to launch a fierce attack on Congress. BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi declared that Congress had become “a new Muslim League of the 21st century,” adding that the party had “completely surrendered to fundamentalist forces.” BJP leader RS Pathania went further, claiming that “even the separatists in the Valley did not object to the national song.”
The Congress Working Committee last month reaffirmed a 1937 resolution mandating that only two stanzas of Vande Mataram be sung at all party events.
The dispute comes after the central government earlier this year directed that all six stanzas of Vande Mataram must be played before Jana Gana Mana at all government events, schools, and official ceremonies.
The row has deepened divisions within the INDIA alliance and handed the BJP a fresh political opening ahead of ongoing national debates over cultural and religious identity.
