Politics
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Congress Working Committee keeps two-stanza Vande Mataram
The Hindu··20 Aug
After a four-hour meeting on 19 August 2026, the Congress Working Committee said only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram would be sung at party events. General secretary K.C. Venugopal said the stand follows the 1937 decision. He confirmed it would be the first two stanzas. The BJP had accused Congress of insulting the song.
Prism
What It Means For You
- If you attend a Congress function, the CWC said on 19 August that only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram will be sung, not the full six.
- Anyone following the Independence Day row can note the party is tying that choice to a 1937 AICC resolution rather than to a new 2026 rule.
- If you are a student, the same meeting said Chhatron ki Goonj meetings will run in about 800 cities and towns, many with Rahul Gandhi.
What's Happening
- Venugopal briefed reporters with Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera after the CWC met at Indira Bhawan.
- Senior leaders Anand Sharma, Tariq Anwar and Digvijaya Singh argued inside the meeting that the 1937 resolution should be followed.
- Kharge also cited an order of President Rajendra Prasad on the two-stanza practice, The Hindu reported.
How The 1937 Text Became The Party Rule
- Bankim Chandra's song has six stanzas. In 1937 Tagore advised Nehru that the first two could be treated separately as a broad national hymn, after which Congress recommended those stanzas for public gatherings.
- The current dispute followed BJP claims that Sonia Gandhi objected to a full rendition at the AICC Independence Day event, which Congress has denied.
- Venugopal said the BJP was using the song row to pull attention from paper leaks and from what he called chanda chori.
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