# Congress only sings party song, says Kiren Rijiju on Vande Mataram row 2026-08-16T16:29:38+00:00 | Politics | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday took a dig at the Congress over the Vande Mataram controversy, saying the party used to sing the national song in full but now only sings its party song. The remark came as the Congress, at an event in Goa attended by party president Mallikarjun Kharge, sang only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram. NDTV reports Rijiju's jibe amid a political dispute over a recently passed law that gives Vande Mataram status on par with the national anthem and mandates its full rendition. India Today reports that the Congress decision to restrict the rendition to two stanzas is based on a 1937 resolution following Rabindranath Tagore's recommendation, which cited religious imagery in later verses. The Congress is expected to maintain this position at future events. Earlier, BJP Yuva Morcha workers attempted to stop Kharge's convoy in Goa, accusing the Congress of disrespecting the national song on August 15. The controversy began on Independence Day when Sonia Gandhi was seen gesturing as the rendition continued beyond the second stanza at the Congress headquarters. The Congress denied she objected to the full version. ## Coverage - ndtv.com - indiatoday.in This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources. Last updated 2026-08-17T17:06:40+00:00. Tags: BJP, Congress, Kiren Rijiju, Vande Mataram Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/rijiju-jibes-congress-over-vande-mataram-row-says-it-now-only-sings-party-song/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/rijiju-jibes-congress-over-vande-mataram-row-says-it-now-only-sings-party-song/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/