Sibal asks Shah if Modi as CM, Vajpayee as PM sang full version of Vande Mataram
Mr. Sibal questioned if the BJP leaders who did not sing the full version of Vande Mataram were also “anti-national”
Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal responded on Friday (August 21, 2026) to Home Minister Amit Shah's "anti-national" criticism of the Congress over its decision to sing two stanzas of Vande Mataram. Sibal questioned whether Narendra Modi, as the Gujarat Chief Minister, or Atal Bihari Vajpayee, as Prime Minister, had ever sung the full version of the national song. He asked if the BJP leaders who didn't sing the complete Vande Mataram were also "anti-national".
Sibal's post on X asked whether the BJP, in private or official functions since 1950, had sung all four stanzas of Vande Mataram. The Congress had previously been criticized by Shah for its decision to sing only two stanzas of Vande Mataram, which Shah termed "anti-national" and aimed at appeasing its vote bank. The Congress responded with senior leader Jairam Ramesh calling BJP leaders "fraudulent nationalists".
The controversy intensified when the Congress Working Committee decided on Wednesday (August 19) to sing only the first two stanzas at national gatherings. Ramesh defended the decision, stating that the 1937 resolution recommending the limited singing of Vande Mataram represented the consensus of several leading figures from the freedom movement.
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