NEW DELHI: The Congress and its INDIA bloc ally National Conference (NC) appeared to be at variance over the full rendition of the national song Vande Mataram, with the Congress on Tuesday saying it would like its allies to honour the wisdom and judgment of the freedom fighters and stand with the party in singing only the version of the song they had adopted.
The party's assertion came after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah stood for the entire song during its inaugural rendition at the International Film Festival in Srinagar on Tuesday. The Abdullahs were seen standing throughout the song's full three-minute rendition, in line with the Union Home Ministry's new guidelines.
Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, expressed displeasure, saying that the full version of Vande Mataram sits uneasily with the syncretic and pluralist ethos that India's freedom fighters envisioned and nurtured.
Last month, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) decided to abide by the 1937 resolution on Vande Mataram and sing only the first two stanzas of the song at all party events henceforth.
Tagging a video of the full version of the song being sung at the event, Venugopal said on X, “The full version of Vande Mataram sits uneasily with the syncretic and pluralist ethos that our freedom fighters envisioned and nurtured for India.”
“For us, the considered judgment of Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, Sardar Patel, Subhash Chandra Bose, Rajendra Prasad, Acharya Narendra Dev, Maulana Azad, Sarojini Naidu and J B Kripalani, shaped in no small part by the counsel of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore remains paramount.”
The Congress leader urged its allies to honour the wisdom and judgment of the freedom fighters and stand with the party in singing only the version of the “beautiful and historic song” that it had adopted.
“That version was chosen deliberately, to keep the song from being communalised – a threat as real today as it was then,” Venugopal said.
“Upholding it is how we uphold the secular, inclusive character of our Republic,” he added.
A political slugfest erupted last month after Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched a scathing attack on the Congress, alleging that its decision to sing only two stanzas of the national song was “anti-national” and aimed at appeasing its vote bank in defiance of the law.
The Congress hit back, with senior leader Jairam Ramesh calling BJP leaders “fraudulent nationalists.”