Sing full version without paper: Priyank Kharge's Vande Mataram challenge to BJP

Priyank Kharge defended Karnataka's decision to restrict Vande Mataram to its first two stanzas, challenged BY Vijayendra and R Ashoka to sing all four stanzas of the national anthem from memory.

In Short

• Priyank Kharge promises to resign if BJP leaders sing full Vande Mataram
• Defends government stance to sing 2 stanzas as aligned with freedom fighters
• Says BJP had no other issue to protest, hence taking up national song row

Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge has challenged BJP state president BY Vijayendra and Leader of Opposition R Ashoka to sing all four stanzas of Vande Mataram without using a paper or teleprompter.

The challenge comes amid a row between the BJP and Congress over the singing of the national song. Congress maintains that it will sing only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram, despite a recently enacted central law mandating its full rendition.

Speaking at a party ceremony in Karnataka's Kalaburagi, Kharge said he would resign if Vijayendra and Ashoka managed to sing all four stanzas from memory.

"Are the BJP leaders, Modi greater than Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose, or Rabindranath Tagore, who received the Nobel Prize?

"I am throwing a challenge to Vijayendra and Ashoka. Let them sing the entire ‘Vande Mataram’ at a public meeting, without any paper or teleprompter. If they can do it, I will resign. Will they do it?," the Home Minister said.

Kharge said the BJP was preparing to protest the state government's decision to have only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram sung at official events. He alleged that the BJP had no other issue to protest over and was therefore taking up the matter of the national song.

Congress argues that the later stanzas of Vande Mataram, which equate the motherland with Hindu goddesses such as Durga and Lakshmi, may conflict with the beliefs of minority communities. In October 1937, the Congress Working Committee recommended that only the first two stanzas be sung at national gatherings.

Recently, the Congress reaffirmed the 1937 resolution. Subsequently, Karnataka also ordered that only the first two stanzas be sung at most state government programmes, except those attended by the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister or Governor.

Kharge added that he would request the Assembly Speaker to allow BJP MLAs to separately sing Vande Mataram in the Legislative Assembly and challenged them to memorise and sing all four stanzas.

Defending the Karnataka government's decision to limit Vande Mataram to two stanzas, the Home Minister said the move was in line with the positions taken by prominent national figures such as Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose and Rabindranath Tagore.

He also targeted the BJP and RSS over the issue, saying that his party and the government had nothing to learn from them.

- Ends