The BJP on Saturday passed a resolution condemning the Congress' decision to sing only two stanzas of Vande Mataram, saying it would not accept any compromise on the honour of the national song for political convenience or appeasement.
BJP President Nitin Nabin presided over the meeting of the party's new office-bearers and later shared the resolution on X.
"The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today, August 22, 2026, passed an important resolution regarding the respect for Vande Mataram and the protection of its historical legacy," Nabin said.
The BJP "strongly condemns and unequivocally opposes" the Congress Working Committee's (CWC) decision on August 19 to reaffirm its 1937 resolution limiting the singing of Vande Mataram to the first two verses at Congress functions, he said.
The resolution said the BJP would oppose any attempt to subject the national song to "communal pressure, political appeasement or narrow vote-bank politics".
"No compromise on the honour, legacy of Vande Mataram will be accepted for political convenience or appeasement," Nabin added.
The party would protect the honour, dignity, heritage and national character of the full, six-stanza Vande Mataram, and reaffirm the Constituent Assembly's 1950 declaration as well as a law passed by Parliament in 2026 granting the national song statutory protection on par with Jana Gana Mana, the resolution said.
It added that the CWC's resolution could not override the Constitution and Parliament's law, and that the "political compromise of 1937 cannot override the constitutional decision of 1950 and the 2026 law".
The resolution said the party would bring before the public the historical context behind the restriction on Vande Mataram, including objections raised at the time by the Muslim League and the politics of communal and separatist demands.
Nabin said the BJP would launch a nationwide campaign to spread the history, meaning, national significance and glorious heritage of Vande Mataram to every corner of India, and would disseminate Mahatma Gandhi's statement describing the song as an "anti-imperialist slogan" associated with the "purest national sentiment".
A special awareness drive would also be held among younger people so that the complete six-verse national song and its history are not forgotten, and so that future generations can understand the memories of India's independence struggle associated with it, Nabin said.
The resolution said the issue was not merely about a political party but about India's honour and the legacy of countless patriots who had sacrificed everything for the nation.
It added that the words of Vande Mataram had once been powerful enough to unsettle an empire, with the British seeking to suppress them because they awakened resistance, and that generations had adopted the song as a mantra of freedom and national pride that could not be reduced to "vote-bank arithmetic".
It said that in 1947, the rallying call of India's independence was Vande Mataram, and that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the proclamation of a "Viksit Bharat" in 2047 would also be Vande Mataram.
The CWC had decided on Wednesday that only the first two stanzas of the national song would be sung at party events, citing its own 1937 resolution.
The decision followed days of controversy after the BJP accused Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and the party's 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.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)
