New Delhi [India], August 22 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters in Delhi on Saturday evening, shortly after the party passed a resolution on the honour and historic legacy of 'Vande Mataram' and announced a nationwide campaign to raise awareness about the National Song's history and significance.
The BJP strongly condemned the Congress Working Committee's decision to re-adopt its 1937 resolution restricting the singing of 'Vande Mataram' at Congress programmes to its first two stanzas.
In its resolution, the BJP said it considers 'Vande Mataram' as India's National Song, an expression of reverence for Bharat Mata, a mantra of the freedom struggle and an enduring symbol of India's national consciousness.
The party said it would oppose the Congress decision and protect the "honour, dignity and legacy" of the full six-stanza National Song. It also said it would reaffirm the 1950 Constituent Assembly declaration and the law passed by Parliament in 2026 granting statutory protection to the National Song at par with 'Jana Gana Mana'.
The BJP resolution said the party would oppose any attempt to make 'Vande Mataram' subservient to communal pressure, appeasement or vote-bank politics, asserting that the Congress Working Committee's decision cannot override the Constitution or Parliament's law.
The party also announced a nationwide awareness campaign, including a special drive among youth, to highlight the history, meaning and national importance of 'Vande Mataram' and its connection with India's freedom struggle.
Reacting to the resolution, BJP MP Tarun Chugh said, "Singing Vande Mataram is a matter of pride for every Indian. But Congress still wants to take the country back to the 1930s... It is an insult to the Constitution of India. It is an insult to the federal structure of India."
BJP MP Biplab Kumar Deb said, "Congress is still stuck in the mindset of 1937, even though it is now 2026. The country has moved forward."
BJP State General Secretary Locket Chatterjee said, "It is inappropriate to politicize 'Vande Mataram' in this manner. Singing 'Vande Mataram' fills us with pride--it is a song that embodies the spirit of the nation, its progress, and the independence achieved in 1947. It is not right to tamper with it or use it for political gain."
Meanwhile, West Bengal BJP President Samik Bhattacharya said the party also reviewed its service initiatives and future programmes.
"We discussed the service initiatives undertaken by the BJP under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi--reaching out to the general public, the marginalized, Scheduled Castes, the youth, and women. We reviewed what we have achieved and what we plan to do in the future; a campaign will be launched for this, and everyone--the entire party--will participate in it," he said.
On the BJP's Seva Sankalp Abhiyaan, Bhattacharya said, "The entire BJP--every single worker of the party, from Kutch to Kohima--will participate in this program."
The BJP said the campaign would seek to ensure that future generations understand the role of 'Vande Mataram' in India's freedom struggle and national consciousness.
The Congress Working Committee had earlier decided that only the first two stanzas of the National Song would be sung at party events, citing its 1937 resolution. Congress MP KC Venugopal said the party would follow the decisions taken by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in 1937.