New Delhi: BJP president Nitin Nabin on Thursday criticised the Congress over its decision to sing only two stanzas of Vande Mataram at party events, accusing it of doing so for votes and calling it the “new Muslim League.”

In a post on X in Hindi, Nabin said, “This insult to the sacred invocation of ‘Bharat Mata’ is a disdain for those thousands of martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the nation, keeping this very song in their consciousness.”

Nabin’s remarks came a day after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) decided that only the first two stanzas of the National Song would be sung at all party events.

The decision follows the Congress’ move to abide by a 1937 resolution of its highest decision-making body on Vande Mataram.

“The Congress has now formalised its insult (to Vande Mataram) into a resolution. Its working committee has decided that only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram will be sung at Congress forums,” Nabin said.

He added, “The Congress has now become the new Muslim League today.”

The BJP chief also referred to the controversy over the singing of the full version of Vande Mataram at the Congress office during its Independence Day celebrations on August 15.

Nabin said the same “insult” to the National Song had been reflected in an “individual’s conduct” a few days earlier, but the Congress had dismissed it as a “coincidence”.

“Today, that very insult has become the Congress’s policy,” the BJP chief said.

He further accused the Congress of putting vote-bank politics above national interest, saying, “This is not merely a political defence, but proof of the hunger for that vote bank at the altar of which the Congress has repeatedly mortgaged the nation’s self-respect.”

The Congress has decided to stick to a 1937 resolution on Vande Mataram, under which only the first two stanzas of the National Song will be sung at all party events.

The decision came after the BJP accused Congress leaders of insulting Vande Mataram by not singing its full version at party programmes.

Addressing a press conference after the over-four-hour meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said the party’s stand was clear and that it would follow the decision taken by its top leadership in 1937.

“There is no confusion on that. Congress president categorically said so yesterday in Goa. Today we also discussed the issue in the meeting of the CWC. Our stand is very clear that the 1937 resolution decided in which Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore, Subhas Chandra Bose, and Sardar Patel – the top-most leadership of the party at that point of time – were present,” Venugopal said.

“Whatever the decision they took, we have decided that. We are very clear that our Congress party workers will do that only. This is our decision,” he told reporters.

Venugopal also hit back at the BJP, saying that Vande Mataram was being turned into a political issue by the ruling party.