New Delhi:
The Congress’ Independence Day event in Delhi saw a controversy erupt on Saturday, with the BJP accusing Sonia Gandhi of objecting to the full version of Vande Mataram being played.
The Congress, however, insisted that Gandhi was only asking for a chair for party chief Mallikarjun Kharge.
Hitting out at the Congress, BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said, “Thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s resolve and in tune with the sentiments of crores of Indians, this is the first Independence Day where Vande Mataram has been sung in its entirety.” Independence Day Live Updates
“Yet, a very strange, ironic, and unfortunate scene was witnessed. While Vande Mataram was being sung at the Congress office, the party’s supreme leader Sonia Gandhi, ‘super-president’ Rahul Gandhi, and current president Mallikarjun Kharge were seen conversing with each other and beckoning someone in a manner that was highly peculiar, objectionable, and disrespectful… It indicates that the Congress party has, perhaps, still not been able to accept the national song Vande Mataram,” he added.
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Joining the attack, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya claimed Sonia Gandhi appeared agitated after the song continued beyond the initial stanzas.
“After the initial stanzas of Vande Mataram were sung, Sonia Gandhi became agitated and asked for the rendition to be stopped rather than played in full. Rahul Gandhi too appeared to signal that it should end. They were told to let it continue. The message was clear: the complete National Song is now to be respected under the new legal framework, and intentional obstruction or disturbance can invite serious consequences,” he wrote on X.
For the first time, the entire ‘Vande Mataram’ was sung at the Congress headquarters on Independence Day.
After the initial stanzas of Vande Mataram were sung, Sonia Gandhi became agitated and asked for the rendition to be stopped rather than played in full. Rahul Gandhi too… pic.twitter.com/ITgkkBvStG
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) August 15, 2026
“They eventually fell in line, and Vande Mataram was sung in full. For decades, the Gandhis and the Congress have displayed an uneasy relationship with the idea of a culturally confident, civilisationally rooted India. That discomfort stood exposed, ironically, on Independence Day,” Malviya alleged.
Asserting that the full version of Vande Mataram was sung at the event, which was held at the party’s headquarters, the Congress maintained that Sonia Gandhi was merely asking for a chair for Kharge, who had been standing for a while.
Stanza Debate
The first two stanzas of Vande Mataram, penned in 1875 by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, were adopted as the National Song in 1937, leaving out four others, which had references to Hindu goddesses. The thought at the time was that these stanzas were seen as ‘exclusionary’, and some in the Muslim community did not appreciate the reference to the goddesses.
The BJP, however, has accused the Congress of being “divisive” by omitting the portions. In February, the Centre mandated the singing of Vande Mataram in its entirety at public gatherings, schools, and official government functions, among others.
The Parliament also passed a Bill last month, which later received assent from the President, making intentionally obstructing, disrupting or preventing the singing of Vande Mataram a criminal offence.
