New Delhi: BJP National President Nitin Nabin on Thursday criticised the Congress Working Committee’s decision to continue singing only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram at party programmes, accusing the opposition party of turning what he called an “insult” to the national song into its official policy.
Nabin described the Congress as the “new Muslim League of today” after the CWC on Wednesday resolved to retain the practice followed since a 1937 decision, under which only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram are recited at Congress events.
The decision comes at a time when the Centre has recently included the complete rendition of the national song in official protocol.
In a post on X, Nabin said the Congress had “formalised its insult into a resolution” by deciding that only the first two stanzas would be sung at its forums.
The BJP leader also referred to the controversy during the Independence Day celebrations at the Congress headquarters, where the complete version of Vande Mataram was played. BJP leaders had alleged that Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi appeared “frustrated” during the rendition and tried to stop the song from being played in full.
Nabin said the Congress had initially dismissed the incident as an isolated occurrence or a coincidence, but had now converted the issue into an organisational policy through the CWC resolution.
“When, just a few days ago, this same insult had been exposed in the conduct of an individual, the Congress had dismissed it as a coincidence. Today, that very insult has become the Congress’s policy,” he said.
He accused the Congress of disrespecting the national song and said the decision amounted to contempt for the freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for the country.
“This insult to the sacred invocation of ‘Bharat Mata’ is a contempt for those thousands of martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the nation, keeping this very song alive in their consciousness,” Nabin said.
The BJP president further alleged that the Congress decision was motivated by electoral considerations and accused the party of compromising national sentiment to protect its vote bank.
“This is not merely a political defence, but proof of the hunger for that vote bank before which the Congress has repeatedly pawned the nation’s self-respect,” he said.
Nabin concluded by asserting that the Congress had become “the new Muslim League of today.”
(Inputs from IANS)