Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal. File
| Photo Credit: ANI
Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Friday (August 21, 2026) hit back at Home Minister Amit Shah for his “anti-national” barb at the Congress over its decision to sing only two stanzas of Vande Mataram, asking whether Narendra Modi as the Gujarat Chief Minister or Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the Prime Minister sang its full version.
Mr. Sibal questioned if the BJP leaders who did not sing the full version of Vande Mataram were also “anti-national”.
“Amit Shah on: CWC decision on two-stanza Vande Mataram. Calls it ‘anti-national’. My question: Did the BJP, in private or official functions sing all stanzas since 1950? Modiji as Gujarat CM? PM Vajpayee?” the Independent MP asked in a post on X.
“You anti-national then? Exposing your vote-bank politics!” Mr. Sibal said.
The row over Vande Mataram intensified on Thursday (August 20) with Mr. Shah launching a no-holds-barred attack on the Congress, alleging that its decision to sing just two stanzas of the national song was “anti-national” and aimed at appeasing its vote bank in defiance of the law.
The Congress hit back, with senior leader Jairam Ramesh calling BJP leaders “fraudulent nationalists”.
The war of words followed the Congress Working Committee’s decision on Wednesday (August 19) to sing only two stanzas of the national song, instead of its full rendition.
Defending the Congress decision, Mr. Ramesh said the 1937 resolution recommending that only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram be sung at national gatherings represented the considered position of several leading figures of the freedom movement.
Published – August 21, 2026 09:56 am IST
