Nitin Nabin chairs meeting of new team of national office bearers at party headquarters on August 22, 2026. Photo: X/@PTI_News
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday (August 22, 2026) passed a resolution criticising the Congress Working Committee’s decision to reaffirm its 1937 resolution and restrict the singing of Vande Mataram to its first two stanzas at Congress events. The party also stepped up preparations for a nationwide Gen-Z outreach programme.
BJP president Nitin Nabin held his first meeting with the newly-appointed national office-bearers, which was also attended by their predecessors. In the evening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the new team.
“Organisational meetings are all about new ideas and perspectives aimed at strengthening the Party and deepening connect with the people. Great interaction with fellow Party colleagues and the new organisational team!” said Mr. Modi on X. During the meeting, the Prime Minister exhorted the office-bearers to intensify the outreach to the young generation.
Focus on youth
The day’s organisational meetings focused on strengthening the BJP’s connect with the people, particularly the younger generation. The party decided to constitute a team for its upcoming nationwide Gen-Z outreach programme, focused on understanding the aspirations and concerns of the younger generation. It is likely to include Mr. Nabin, national general secretaries Smriti Irani and Vinod Tawde, Gujarat Minister Harsh Sanghavi, and Chhattisgarh Minister O.P. Choudhary.
Another meeting focused on the decision to run a month-long programme across the country from September 17 to October 17, marking Mr. Modi’s birthday and 25 years since he became Gujarat Chief Minister.
In its 10-point resolution on Vande Mataram, the BJP rejected what it described as attempts to subordinate the song to communal pressure, political appeasement or vote-bank politics. The party said the Congress Working Committee’s 1937 decision could not override constitutional institutions or laws.
It resolved to “affirm the constitutional and statutory status of Vande Mataram as established by the Constituent Assembly’s 1950 pronouncement and reinforced by Parliament’s 2026 amendment [the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Act] extending statutory protection to the National Song equivalent to that accorded to the National Anthem”.
National campaign
The BJP announced a nationwide campaign through its workers to educate people, particularly the youth, about the National Song’s history, six-stanza composition and national significance.
“That legacy cannot be reduced to the calculations of contemporary vote-bank politics. The same ‘Vande Mataram’ that echoed as the call for freedom in 1947 will resound as the supreme chant for a ‘Developed India @ 2047’ under the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” it said.
At a press conference, BJP MP Sambit Patra referred to a complaint filed with the police seeking registration of a case to probe alleged “intentional obstruction/disturbance” during the rendition of the National Song at the All India Congress Committee headquarters on August 15.
Mr. Patra said the recently enacted Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Act prescribed imprisonment and a fine, and that the law would take its course.
Addressing the media, BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde shared details of the first meeting of the national office-bearers and the workshop organised for the month-long ‘Seva Sankalp Abhiyan’.
The campaign will include service-oriented initiatives such as honouring Anganwadi workers and organising ‘Matri Samvad’ events. Under ‘Seva Setu’, block-level camps will help eligible beneficiaries enrol in government welfare schemes. Youth will be encouraged to showcase service activities, while a National Innovation Challenge will seek solutions to local problems. State, district and block-level workshops will be held to take the programme to the grassroots.
Published – August 22, 2026 11:13 am IST