New Delhi

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday passed a major resolution on the honour and historic legacy of 'Vande Mataram' and said that it will lead a nationwide campaign to raise awareness around the history and significance of the National song.

The party strongly condemned the Congress Working Committee's decision taken on August 19 to re-adopt its 1937 resolution that restricts the singing of Vande Mataram to only its first two stanzas at Congress programmes.

The BJP said it considers Vande Mataram as India's National Song, an expression of reverence for Bharat Mata, the mantra of the freedom struggle and the immortal symbol of India's national consciousness.

BJP's resolution mentioned that the party will strongly oppose the Congress decision to limit Vande Mataram to two stanzas.

It will protect the honour, dignity and legacy of the full six-stanza Vande Mataram. It will reaffirm the 1950 Constituent Assembly declaration and the law passed by Parliament in 2026 giving statutory protection to the National Song at par with Jana Gana Mana.

It will oppose any attempt to make the National Song subservient to communal pressure, appeasement or vote-bank politics. The resolution emphasised that Congress's Working Committee resolution cannot be above the Constitution and Parliament's law. The political compromise of 1937 cannot override the constitutional decision of 1950 and the 2026 law.

The resolution said the party will bring before the public the historical context behind restricting Vande Mataram, including objections by the Muslim League and the politics of communal and separatist demands. It will take Mahatma Gandhi's statement to the masses, where he had described Vande Mataram as an "anti-imperialist slogan" linked to the "purest national sentiment."

BJP workers will run a nationwide campaign to take the history, meaning and national importance of Vande Mataram to every corner of the country. A special awareness drive will be held among the youth so that the full National Song is not forgotten and future generations understand its deep link with India's freedom, struggle and sacrifice. No compromise on Vande Mataram's honour will be accepted for political convenience, the resolution said.

The BJP said this is not just about a political party, but about India's honour and the legacy of countless patriots who sacrificed everything for the nation.

The words of Vande Mataram were once so powerful that an empire was terrified of them. The British tried to suppress them because they awakened resistance. Generations adopted them as a mantra of freedom and national pride. This legacy cannot be reduced to vote-bank arithmetic, the resolution said.

In 1947, the clarion call of India's independence was 'Vande Mataram', and under PM Narendra Modi, the grand proclamation of 'Viksit Bharat' in 2047 will also be 'Vande Mataram'.

On Wednesday, the Congress Working Committee also decided that only the first two stanzas of the national song would be sung at party events, citing the party's own 1937 resolution.

The decision followed days of controversy after the BJP accused Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party 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.

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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.