Congress sings, then stumbles
Two stanzas in Delhi, silence in Thiruvananthapuram. The BJP got a fresh culture-war chew toy; Congress handed it over gift-wrapped.
Congress’s position on Vande Mataram sounded different in Delhi and Kerala.
The Congress Working Committee has reaffirmed that its programmes will use only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram, citing the party’s 1937 position. According to reports from the CWC meet on August 19, K.C. Venugopal said there was “no confusion” in the party — a line that did not survive contact with Kerala four days earlier. [Source: CWC meeting coverage]
In Kerala, a Congress-led government first had its Chief Secretary circulate on August 6 that Independence Week events should combine flag-hoisting with the collective singing of Vande Mataram. Then, at the state’s own August 15 function, the song was not on the programme. The education department’s August 11 circular to schools mentioned the flag and the national anthem; Vande Mataram did not make the cut. [Source: Kerala circular reporting]
The BJP did not waste the opening. Amit Shah called the CWC move “surprising and anti-national” and spun a 1937 conspiracy theory for good measure. That’s politics; the point is Congress made it easy by arguing process in Delhi while tripping over practice in a Congress-ruled state. [Source: Amit Shah remarks]
Kerala’s ministers and allies added to the muddle. An IUML leader publicly said there was no need to sing the full version; the state’s education minister suggested the earlier directive was the Governor’s doing, which the Raj Bhavan denied. Who authored what, and why the state function skipped the song after calling for it elsewhere, remains unanswered on the record. [Source: Kerala/IUML reporting]
Telangana has better things to do than referee Delhi’s nostalgia fights. Jobs, prices, students — that’s the field. The BJP wants the argument on symbolism; the Congress keeps walking it there. In Kerala, it even brought the mike.