GUWAHATI: The Congress on Wednesday, August 19, said its stand on Vande Mataram is clear and that it will follow the decision taken by the Congress Working Committee (CWC) in 1937 to sing only its first two stanzas.
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Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal said the party is following the decision taken by its top leadership at the time, including Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Speaking to the press, Venugopal said, “There is no confusion about that… Our stand is very clear. In 1937, Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the topmost leadership of that point of time, whatever decisions they took, we will abide by those decisions.”
The Congress’ stand comes amid a controversy over Vande Mataram, following an incident involving Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi during its rendition at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi on Independence Day.
The CWC’s reaffirmation also comes after the BJP criticised Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for singing what it called an “incomplete” version of Vande Mataram at a public meeting in South Goa on Monday.
Defending his version, Kharge said it was the same one sung by several national leaders over the decades.
“I sang the ‘Vande Mataram’ which Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru sang… the same song which Vallabhbhai Patel and Atal Bihari Vajpayee sang,” Kharge said.
Vande Mataram was composed by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and later published in his novel Anandamath. The first two stanzas praise the motherland, while the later portions contain religious and mythological imagery.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines issued on July 9, state that the full six-stanza version of Vande Mataram must be sung or played at official functions, with the rendition taking around three minutes and 10 seconds.