West Bengal BJP welcomes MHA directive of singing all stanzas of Vande Mataram

The West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday (February 11, 2026) welcomed the Union Home Ministry’s decision that all six stanzas of the National song Vande Mataram shall be sung first when the National Song and National Anthem Jan Gana Man are to be played together.

Only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay have been played at official functions so far. The remaining stanzas, which invoke Hindu goddesses, have been omitted. The order by the Ministry said that whenever the National Song and the National Anthem are sung or played, the National Song will be sung or played first and the assembly where the National Song is sung shall stand at attention.

Opinion | PM Modi and Amit Shah should blame Tagore, not Congress, for splitting Vande Mataram

West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said that it is most unfortunate if someone smells communalism in Goddess Durga. References to Goddess Durga have been made in the song Vande Mataram. “I thought they (Trinamool Congress) were devotees of Goddess Durga. Now that they are Opposing Vande Mataram, it proves that all the Durga Puja carnivals were fake,” he said.

The West Bengal government has been organising the Durga Puja carnival, where idols from big-ticket Durga Puja pandals go past Kolkata’s Red Road. The cultural event that draws thousands is presided over by party chairperson and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Trinamool Congress spokesperson Arup Chakraborty said that the move is aimed at West Bengal Assembly polls and just as the BJP used Lord Ram for electoral gains, it is using Vande Mataram for the same purpose.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his public meetings in West Bengal, had referred to Vande Mataram and that the country was observing 150 years of the national song.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, during a public meeting in West Bengal on January 31 had alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was opposing Vande Mataram for her ‘vote bank’ politics and the people of Bengal will not forgive her for that.

In November 2025, West Bengal made it mandatory for all schools run and aided by the State Government to sing the State song, Banglar Mati, Banglar Jol, composed by Rabindranath Tagore in 1905. The BJP leadership in West Bengal has accused the Trinamool Congress of ignoring Vande Mataram on its sesquicentenary year.

Now, along with the National Anthem and the State Song, if the National Song is sung at morning assemblies, it would require six minutes for children to sing all three songs.