Archive · 21 Aug 2026
Sibal Challenges Shah Over Two-Stanza Vande Mataram Criticism
The Congress decided to sing only the first two parts of Vande Mataram at its programmes.
Home Minister Amit Shah called this decision anti-national.
He also said the decision was meant to please the Congress’s supporters.
Kapil Sibal disagreed with Shah’s criticism.
Sibal asked whether Modi and former Prime Minister Vajpayee had always sung the entire song.
He also said the Constituent Assembly and leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore supported singing the first two stanzas.
Congress leaders said the practice was based on a 1937 resolution.
The disagreement has become a political argument about patriotism and the history of the song.
Kapil Sibal challenged Amit Shah’s description of the Congress’s two-stanza Vande Mataram decision as “anti-national.”
Sibal asked whether Narendra Modi as Gujarat chief minister or Atal Bihari Vajpayee as prime minister had sung the full song.
The Congress Working Committee decided to sing only the first two stanzas at its programmes, citing a 1937 resolution.
Sibal said the Constituent Assembly, Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore had also supported the first-two-stanza practice.
Amit Shah alleged the Congress decision was intended to appease its vote bank, while Congress leaders accused BJP leaders of fraudulent nationalism.
- Who
- Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal, Home Minister Amit Shah, the Congress Working Committee, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, the BJP, and the RSS.
- What
- A political dispute over the Congress Working Committee’s decision to sing only two stanzas of Vande Mataram and Shah’s criticism of that decision.
- When
- The CWC decision was made on Wednesday; Shah criticized it on Thursday; Sibal responded on Friday, August 21.
- Where
- New Delhi and, in Sibal’s case, through posts on X and a press conference.
- Why
- Shah called the decision anti-national and alleged it was intended to appease a vote bank, while Sibal and other Congress leaders defended the two-stanza practice and challenged the BJP’s claims about nationalism.
Congress and Sibal’s Position
Shah and BJP Position
Whether two stanzas are acceptable
Congress and Sibal’s Position
Congress leaders defended singing only the first two stanzas, citing the 1937 resolution and, according to Sibal, the position of the Constituent Assembly and other prominent figures.
Shah and BJP Position
Amit Shah described the Congress Working Committee’s decision to sing only two stanzas as anti-national.
Reason for the decision
Congress and Sibal’s Position
Congress presented the practice as historically grounded and rejected the claim that it reflected disloyalty or improper political motives.
Shah and BJP Position
Shah alleged that the decision was intended to appease the Congress’s vote bank and was made in defiance of the law.
Meaning of nationalism
Congress and Sibal’s Position
Sibal argued that calling supporters of the two-stanza practice anti-national would also implicate figures he said supported it, and accused those dividing people of real anti-national activity. Jairam Ramesh called BJP leaders “fraudulent nationalists.”
Shah and BJP Position
Shah characterized the Congress decision as anti-national and argued that singing the complete song represented the more nationalistic position. The reports do not include a response from Shah to Sibal’s questions about Modi or Vajpayee.
- Song involved
- Vande Mataram
- Congress decision
- The Congress Working Committee decided to sing only the first two stanzas at its programmes.
- Amit Shah’s criticism
- Shah called the decision anti-national and alleged it was intended to appease the Congress’s vote bank in defiance of the law.
- Sibal’s challenge
- Sibal asked whether BJP leaders, including Narendra Modi as Gujarat chief minister and Atal Bihari Vajpayee as prime minister, had sung the full version.
- Congress justification
- Jairam Ramesh cited a 1937 resolution recommending that the first two stanzas be sung at national gatherings.
- Historical references
- Sibal said the Constituent Assembly, Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore supported the first-two-stanza practice.
- Broader accusation
- Sibal said people trying to divide the country were engaging in the real anti-national activity, while also alleging that the RSS had not sung the full song in its shakhas.
