New Delhi, Aug 20 — As the Vande Mataram row intensifies, the Congress party on Thursday defended its long-standing practice of singing the first two stanzas of the national song at its programmes, invoking the legacy and endorsement of leaders including Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Rabindranath Tagore to assert its historical nationalist credentials amid sharp criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
A couple of Congress leaders argued that the party's position on the rendition of 'Vande Mataram' is rooted in a longstanding organisational decision dating back to the freedom struggle and was not a recent political development.
They also alleged that Congress workers continued singing the national song despite facing persecution and British action during the freedom movement, while accusing members associated with the Jan Sangh and RSS of informing the British about the freedom fighters who sang the song.
This came a day after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) resolved to continue following the tradition established through a 1937 CWC decision, under which only the first two stanzas of 'Vande Mataram' are recited during Congress events. The decision has assumed significance as the Centre has recently made the complete rendition of the national song part of official protocol.
Congress MP Jebi Mather said the party's position had been carefully established after discussions among several prominent leaders during the freedom struggle and that the practice would continue.
"The Congress' stand on Vande Mataram is not something that has emerged today, yesterday or the day before. It dates back to the 1937 Kolkata session, when great leaders including Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Rabindranath Tagore came together, discussed the matter and the Congress Working Committee passed a resolution that the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram would be sung," Mather told IANS.
"That decision continues today and will continue forever," she added.
Congress spokesperson Surendra Rajput also strongly defended the party's association with 'Vande Mataram', saying that the song had been sung by Congress workers since the beginning and remained an important part of the freedom movement.
"We have been singing 'Vande Mataram' from the beginning. During the freedom movement, when we used to sing 'Vande Mataram', these sycophants of the British -- the Jana Sangh people, the Sangh people -- used to inform the British that such-and-such freedom fighter was singing 'Vande Mataram', and the British used to whip us on our backs," Rajput said.
"We did not stop singing 'Vande Mataram' even then. The same 'Vande Mataram' that we used to sing at that time, we are singing today. The 'Vande Mataram' that Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose sang, and Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore approved -- we sang it, we sing it, and we will continue to sing it," he added.
"Why did these Sangh people never sing Vande Mataram in their Sakhas? We are ready to be whipped by the BJP, but we just want to know the reason behind it," Rajput stated.
Meanwhile, Revolutionary Socialist Party MP N.K. Premachandran said that the position of both the Congress and the INDIA bloc on 'Vande Mataram was clear, arguing that the national song should serve as a means of bringing people together rather than creating divisions.
"As far as Vande Mataram is concerned, the position of Congress as well as the INDIA bloc is very clear. It is very definite that the national song is not meant for dividing the people but for uniting the people," Premachandran said.
The Congress defence comes as the party came under heavy criticism from the BJP, which has accused the Congress of disrespecting the national song by restricting its rendition to two stanzas.