Debate over Vande Mataram 'not right', focus on public issues: Mayawati to Centre, states

Lucknow: BSP supremo Mayawati on Friday said the political debate over whether the complete version of Vande Mataram should be sung or not was "not right", urging governments at the Centre and states to focus on issues of public interest, particularly unemployment among youth.

In a post on X, Mayawati said the law recently passed by Parliament concerning the singing of Vande Mataram was not the first instance of such a change.

She said whenever there is a change of government at the Centre or in states, political parties keep changing laws made by their predecessors according to their political interests or to divert public attention from their shortcomings.


"The ongoing politics in the country right now regarding whether to sing the full "Vande Mataram," or just the first two stanzas (paragraphs), or not to sing it at all-this is not right," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.

Mayawati said governments at the Centre and in the states, as well as all political parties, should instead focus on issues of public interest, particularly unemployment among youth and concerns of students and Gen-Z and Gen-Alpha.

She also highlighted the severe floods in some parts of the country and the resulting loss of life and property, saying there were several other important issues that required immediate attention.

"This is the most pressing need of the hour in the interest of the country and the people," she said.

Her remarks came after a war of words broke out between the BJP and the Congress over the singing of full version of Vande Matram.

The BJP has slammed the Congress, alleging that its decision to sing just two stanzas of Vande Mataram was "anti-national" and aimed at appeasing its vote bank in defiance of the law.

The Congress has hit back, with senior party leader Jairam Ramesh calling BJP leaders "fraudulent nationalists" and accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah of politicising the national song to divert attention from the government's failures on people's concerns, including those of students.

The war of words followed the Congress Working Committee's decision on Wednesday to sing only two stanzas of the national song, instead of its full rendition.

This widened into a broader Congress-BJP confrontation, with both parties invoking Partition, nationalism and history to justify their positions on how Vande Mataram should be rendered at political events.