Vande Mataram got due recognition under Modi govt after decades of neglect: Amit Shah
22/08/2026
SILIGURI, Aug 21: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday took a swipe at the Congress, saying successive governments had not accorded due recognition to Vande Mataram, while asserting that the national song received its rightful place under the Narendra Modi government during this year’s Independence Day celebrations.
Addressing a gathering here during his north Bengal visit, Shah said it gave him solace to hear the complete rendition of the song at the Red Fort 80 years after Independence.
Shah added he was saddened by previous dispensations not awarding the recognition to the song it deserved since the country gained Independence.
"The complete version of Vande Mataram was never sung in India until at the Red Fort during the Independence Day celebrations this year, where the song was bestowed with the dignity it deserves. It gives me solace that the nation has finally recognised the song in the 150th year of its creation by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay," he said.
"This immortal composition by Bankim Babu not only gave momentum to our freedom movement but also offered us a goal of what an independent India should be like. By penning the song and the novel (Ananda Math), he underscored the need for independent India to tread the path of cultural nationalism," he said.
Shah called the legislation steered by the Ministry of Home Affairs, which made the full rendition Vande Mataram a part of official government programmes, a "historic decision".
Shah's remarks came amid an intensifying political dispute between the BJP and the Congress over the rendition of Vande Mataram.
The Congress Working Committee has decided to sing only the first two stanzas at party programmes, citing its 1937 resolution, a decision Shah has strongly criticised.
Earlier on Friday, he alleged that the Congress's decision amounted to defiance of the law passed by Parliament.
Shah has also accused the Congress of having divided the song into two parts in 1937 for "the sake of appeasement and vote-bank politics".
He has argued that the Centre's recent steps have corrected what he describes as a historical injustice and restored legal recognition to the full song.
The controversy has gained particular resonance in West Bengal, where the BJP has sought to connect the song with the state's contribution during the country's freedom struggle and its cultural identity, while the Congress has rejected allegations that its leaders intended to disrespect or interrupt the national song.
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