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<\/picture><\/div>\nKarnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said on Wednesday that only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram will be sung at government programmes in the state. Defending the decision, Shivakumar said he believed in the Congress’s ideology and would stand by the party’s position.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Speaking at the India Today Roundtable in Bengaluru, Shivakumar said the complete version of Vande Mataram had been sung during the Independence Day programme at the Congress headquarters without his knowledge. He added that only two stanzas would be sung at government programmes in Karnataka in the future.<\/p>\n The statement came after the Congress Working Committee decided on Wednesday that only the first two of the six stanzas of Vande Mataram would be sung at party programmes. The decision followed a controversy over the rendition of the national song at the Congress headquarters on August 15.<\/p>\n Amit Shah: Not singing full Vande Mataram is \u2018anti-national\u2019<\/strong><\/span> <\/p>\n Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday criticised the Congress decision, calling it “surprising and anti-national”. He said the Congress’s 1937 decision to divide the national song had been corrected by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.<\/p>\n Shah alleged that the Congress had split the song into two parts in 1937 to appease Muslims, and claimed that the decision strengthened the two-nation theory and eventually contributed to the Partition of India.<\/p>\n Nitin Nabin: Congress has become \u2018new Muslim League\u2019<\/strong><\/span> BJP president Nitin Nabin also attacked the Congress over the issue on Wednesday, accusing the party of insulting the national song for “vote-bank politics”.<\/p>\n Nabin said Congress had “become the new Muslim League” and called its decision an insult to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives with Vande Mataram in their hearts.<\/p>\n How did the controversy begin?<\/strong><\/span> The BJP-Congress dispute over Vande Mataram began after the August 15 programme at the Congress headquarters. The BJP alleged that Sonia Gandhi attempted to stop the complete rendition of the song and shared a video on X, claiming Rahul Gandhi also appeared uncomfortable during the performance.<\/p>\n The Congress rejected the allegation. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the complete Vande Mataram was sung and there was no attempt to stop it.<\/p>\n According to Ramesh, Sonia Gandhi’s gesture was intended to ask for a chair for Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who had been standing for a long time.<\/p>\n What do the notification and law say?<\/strong><\/span> 1. Notification: January 31, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n The Ministry of Home Affairs issued Orders Relating to the National Song of India, recognising all six stanzas of Vande Mataram as the official version. The order says that when the national song is sung, its complete official version should be performed. It specifies a duration of 3 minutes and 10 seconds and calls for appropriate respect and decorum during its singing or playing.<\/p>\n Those present are also instructed to stand to attention while the national song is being performed.<\/p>\n 2. Law: July-August 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n The Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill was introduced in July 2026. It was passed by the Rajya Sabha on July 29 and the Lok Sabha on July 30, and became law on August 11.<\/p>\n The amendment extends legal protection to Vande Mataram under the 1971 Act. It states that anyone who intentionally prevents the singing of the national song or causes a disturbance at an assembly where it is being sung may face imprisonment of up to three years, a fine, or both.<\/p>\n 3. Notification: July 9, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n The Ministry of Home Affairs directed all states, Union territories and central government ministries to strictly follow the prescribed orders concerning the national song and national anthem.<\/p>\n The notification says the correct text, pronunciation and established protocols must be followed. If both Vande Mataram and the national anthem are performed, the national song should be performed first, followed by the national anthem.<\/p>\n The notification does not prescribe a separate punishment for failing to follow these instructions. Instead, institutions and organisations have been directed to implement them strictly.<\/p>\n What do the three provisions mean?<\/strong><\/span> The notifications establish all six stanzas of Vande Mataram as its official version and direct that the complete version be sung when the national song is performed.<\/p>\n However, neither notification specifies a penalty for singing fewer than six stanzas. The 2026 amendment law also does not explicitly make failure to sing all six stanzas an offence.<\/p>\n Under the amended law, an offence arises when someone intentionally prevents the singing of the national song or causes a disturbance at an assembly where it is being sung.<\/p>\n Therefore, while the official guidelines prescribe the complete six-stanza version, the law does not specifically state that singing only two stanzas, by itself, constitutes a punishable offence.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said on Wednesday that only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram will be sung at government programmes in the state. Defending the decision, Shivakumar said he believed in the Congress’s ideology and would stand by the party’s position. Speaking at the India Today Roundtable in Bengaluru, Shivakumar said…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[30084,94,95,23519,23725,23522,26475,28559],"class_list":["post-34754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nation","tag-appeasement-politics","tag-bjp","tag-congress","tag-dk-shivakumar","tag-karnataka-government","tag-karnataka-politics","tag-vande-mataram","tag-vande-mataram-controversy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}