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BJP national working president Nitin Nabin launched a blistering attack on the Congress, alleging that the opposition party's decision to sing only the first two stanzas of "Vande Mataram" at its programmes exposes what he called the party's "hunger for that vote bank before which it has repeatedly pawned the nation's self-respect".
He said the Congress Working Committee's (CWC) move was "not merely a political defence, but proof" of this pattern, and claimed that "the Congress has now become the new Muslim League of today". "The Congress has now formalised its insult into a resolution. Its working committee has decided that only the first two stanzas of 'Vande Mataram' will be sung at Congress forums. 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," Nabin posted on X, referring to the controversy over Congress defying the Centre's Vande Mataram protocol. "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. 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. The Congress has now become the new Muslim League of today," he added. His remarks came a day after the CWC decided that only the first two stanzas of the national song would be sung at party events, citing the party's own 1937 resolution. The decision followed days of controversy after the BJP accused Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party parliamentary chairperson Sonia Gandhi of conversing while the national song was being rendered during Independence Day celebrations on August 15, and demanded a public apology. After the CWC meeting, Congress MP KC Venugopal said the party's stand on the recitation of Vande Mataram was clear and that it would follow the decisions taken by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in 1937. (ANI)
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