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Should ‘Vande Mataram’ be sung in its entirety? The Congress party appears to be in a dilemma on this question. We got a glimpse of that dilemma during the Congress Seva Dal’s Independence Day programme. When the song continued beyond the first two stanzas, Sonia Gandhi appeared to gesture towards those singing it. Rahul Gandhi, too, looked distracted. There appeared to be an exchange between Sonia and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. The rendition of the song, however, continued. Sonia looked visibly uncomfortable, even upset. ‘Vande Mataram’ was sung in full.

The dilemma within the Congress party

Videos of the episode are now circulating on social media. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters have seized upon them to repeat the familiar charge that the Congress is anti-national. The Nehru-Gandhi family, they say, is anti-national because it cannot tolerate the national song. Sonia and the Congress, according to them, have insulted the soul of the nation.

Congress spokespersons, on the other hand, have offered their own explanations. The song was sung in full, they say, and Sonia did not object to it. She was merely asking that a chair be brought for Kharge, who had been standing since a long time. Since the voices in the video are not sufficiently clear, so it is difficult to say whether the Congress’s explanation is correct.

But leave this particular episode aside. Congress governments in different states have not taken a uniform position on the song. In Karnataka and Telangana, ‘Vande Mataram’ was sung in full; in Kerala, it was not. According to reports, the Kerala government has said that singing the song in its entirety is not mandatory. The Union government had directed that all the stanzas of ‘Vande Mataram’ be sung first at Independence Day programmes, followed by the national anthem, ‘Jana Gana Mana’. The Kerala government’s position is that this is an advisory and not a binding instruction.

Also read: Three Months After Supreme Court Said Not Singing Vande Mataram Imposed No Penal Consequence, Centre Moves to Criminalise ‘Insult’

Other Congress governments, however, sang the song in full at their programmes, as did the Congress Seva Dal in Delhi. In one video, a Seva Dal worker can be heard telling a journalist that their leader had wanted the singing to be stopped, but they went ahead and sang the entire song.

The dilemma within the Congress is therefore unmistakable. But is Sonia or Rahul’s discomfort with the complete singing of ‘Vande Mataram’ really something to be ashamed of?

After all, both Sonia and Rahul have served as presidents of the Congress and remain among its most prominent leaders. They, therefore, have a responsibility towards the ideas their party espouses as well as its history. It is entirely legitimate for them to remind Congress workers of a resolution unanimously adopted by the party in 1937.

According to that resolution, only the first two stanzas of ‘Vande Mataram’ are to be sung on public occasions. That decision has never subsequently been altered at any session of the Congress. Hence, strictly speaking, singing the entire song is a violation of the party’s own decision.

The Seva Dal member who proudly declared that the song was sung in full despite Sonia’s objection appears to be unfamiliar with the history of his own organisation.........

© The Wire