The Congress Working Committee has decided that only the first two stanzas of 'Vande Mataram' will be sung in the party programs.
While taking this decision, the Congress Party has cited its nearly nine decade old proposal.
'Vande Mataram', taken from Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel 'Anand Math', is the national song of India and it has the same status as the national anthem 'Jana Gana Mana'.
This decision of the Congress Party has further intensified the ongoing controversy regarding the national song Vande Mataram.
Only a few months ago, the Parliament of India had criminalized attempts to deliberately stop or disrupt the singing of Vande Mataram song.
The full version of 'Vande Mataram' has recently been given the same legal protection as the national anthem.
Under this, singing of all six parts of Vande Mataram has been made mandatory in all government programs.
BJP is attacking Congress party regarding Vande Mataram.
BJP is raising questions on the Congress Party regarding the singing of Vande Mataram in the Independence Day program of the Congress Party and then the singing of this song in a program held in the presence of party President Mallikarjun Kharge in Goa.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has targeted the Congress over the decision of the Congress Working Committee to sing only two parts of 'Vande Mataram' instead of singing the entire song.
Amit Shah wrote on Twitter that this decision of the Congress Working Committee is "anti-national" and a blatant disregard of the law made by the Parliament.
He claimed that in 1937, as part of appeasement politics, Congress divided 'Vande Mataram' into two parts, which strengthened the two-nation theory and later led to the partition of the country.
Shah said that on the 150th year of 'Vande Mataram', the Modi government corrected this historical mistake and gave legal form to the entire anthem. He alleged that under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, Congress is once again going on the path of appeasement for vote bank politics.
Appealing to the people, Amit Shah said that they should raise their voice unitedly against this decision of Congress regarding 'Vande Mataram'. He said that the country has already suffered the consequences of this mistake regarding 'Vande Mataram'.
He said, "The people of the country will not tolerate any opposition to Vande Mataram."
Meanwhile, former BJP president JP Nadda said in a statement posted on Twitter, "From the very beginning, Congress has been pursuing the politics of compromise, appeasement and surrendering to divisive forces. It has always compromised with national morality, national values and national sentiment. The Congress of that era is a living proof of this."
Congress says that it will be limited to the first two stanzas of this song. After the decision of the Congress Working Committee, Congress Party General Secretary KC Venugopal said that the party will follow its decision taken in 1937.
KC Venugopal said, "We have been singing 'Vande Mataram' since 1937, that is, for more than 90 years. What is new in this for us? BJP was not a part of the freedom struggle. 'Vande Mataram' was a part of the freedom struggle. It is an emotional issue for us, but a political issue for them (BJP). They are diverting people's attention from real issues like paper leak, theft of donations and Chinese intrusion in Arunachal Pradesh. Want to mislead."
In 1937, the Working Committee of the Congress Party passed a resolution recommending the singing of only the first two stanzas of this song in party programs.
The Congress Party has now cited the stances of Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Subhash Chandra Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in support of its decision.
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay composed the song 'Vande Mataram' (Mother I bow to you) in Sanskritised Bengali in the year 1875. Later he included it in his famous novel 'Anand Math'.
The background of the novel 'Anand Math', which tells the story of the last period of the 18th century, is the Sanyasi rebellion.
In the early decades of the East India Company's rule in India, there was a monk rebellion in Bengal against it.
The song 'Vande Mataram' also resonated as a slogan in the Swadeshi movement during 1905 to 1908 and it became deeply associated with India's independence movement.
In October 1937, Jawaharlal Nehru wrote a letter to Subhash Chandra Bose, mentioning his apprehensions regarding this song, saying that due to the background of 'Anand Math', this song could hurt the sentiments of Muslims.
However, Nehru had also said in his letter that the voices of protest regarding the song have been encouraged by communal people.
In 1937, the Working Committee of the Congress had passed a resolution saying that whenever the Vande Mataram song is sung in any national program, only the first two stanzas should be sung.
It was also said in this proposal that there is nothing in the first two interludes of the song that anyone can object to and the subsequent interludes are not very popular.
However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also raised questions regarding the proposal of the 1937 session of the Congress.
In December last year, in his speech in Parliament on the occasion of 150 years of Vande Mataram song, Modi had said, "When Vande Mataram completed 50 years, the country was forced to live in slavery. When it completed 100 years, the country was in the chains of Emergency. Then the Constitution of India was strangled."
He said, "This 150 years is an opportunity to restore that great chapter to its glory."
PM Modi said, "This song was written at a time when the British Sultanate was in panic after the freedom struggle of 1857. There were various kinds of pressures on India, various atrocities were being committed and the people of India were being forced by the British."
A few days before this, while inaugurating the programs related to the 150th anniversary of 'Vande Mataram', Prime Minister Narendra Modi had alleged that Congress had 'removed some important parts of Vande Mataram' before the 1937 Faizabad session.
He had then said, "In 1937, some important verses of Vande Mataram, a part of its soul, were removed. Vande Mataram was broken. Why was this injustice done? This sowed the seeds of partition."
The first two stanzas of this song describe the beauty of the motherland. It describes the fertility, water and greenery of the earth.
On 24 January 1950, the President of the Constituent Assembly, Rajendra Prasad, said that Vande Mataram "has played a historic role in the struggle for India's independence" and that it would be "equally honoured" with Jana Gana Mana.
The version of the song Vande Mataram, which has traditionally received the status of the national anthem, includes only its first two stanzas.
Muslim scholars believe that presenting and worshiping Mother India as a goddess is against the basic principle of monotheism of Islam. Islam does not allow the worship of anyone other than Allah.
This interpretation of Muslim scholars makes the later differences of this song controversial for Muslims.
In the third stanza of Vande Mataram, there is mention of "crores and crores" of arms ready to take up the sword to protect the motherland.
In the fourth stanza of the song it is said that the image of the motherland is engraved in every temple.
The biggest objection regarding this song was that this song defines Indian nationalism according to a particular religion.
According to researcher Snigdhendu Bhattacharya, "Rabindranath believed that no one, including the Muslim community, had any reason to object to the first two verses of the song. But there was plenty of reason to object to the later verses. He also said that he had no problem in keeping the first two verses completely separate from the novel. On Rabindranath's advice, the Congress decided that the first two verses would be sung at all programs."
