Priyank Kharge challenges BJP over Vande Mataram stanzas, says he will resign if they sing all six

Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge has thrown down a challenge to the BJP over the ongoing row surrounding the singing of Vande Mataram, saying he would resign if BJP leaders BY Vijayendra and R Ashoka can sing all six stanzas of the national song without referring to a teleprompter or a piece of paper.

Kharge was defending the Karnataka government's decision to limit Vande Mataram to its first two stanzas at most state government functions. The BJP has criticised the move and demanded that the complete version be sung.

Addressing a gathering, Kharge challenged Vijayendra and Ashoka to sing all the stanzas "without using a teleprompter or looking into a piece of paper".

"If they do, I will resign," he said.

Kharge also questioned the BJP's position on the issue and referred to the historical decision to use only the first two stanzas of the song.

"Our forefathers decided that only two stanzas of Vande Mataram will be sung. Now BJP and PM Modi want to sing all stanzas. Are they greater than Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose, and even the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore?" he said.

The dispute has intensified after the Karnataka government issued an order restricting the rendition of Vande Mataram to its first two stanzas at state government programmes. The exception is for functions attended by the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister or Governor.

The Centre, meanwhile, has issued directions concerning the official version of Vande Mataram. A July 9, 2026 communication from the Ministry of Home Affairs was cited in a petition before the Karnataka High Court as requiring the official version to be used during mass singing. The petition describes the official version as comprising all six stanzas.

The Congress Working Committee had also decided on August 19 to follow its 1937 resolution on Vande Mataram, under which only the first two stanzas are sung at party events.

The BJP in Karnataka has attacked the Congress government's decision, describing it as "appeasement politics".

The controversy has now moved beyond the political arena and into the courts.

On September 15, advocate Girish Bharadwaj filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Karnataka High Court challenging the state government's September 8 order. The plea questions whether the state government can prescribe which portions of the national song should be sung at official functions.

The petitioner argues that the Karnataka order conflicts with the Union government's directions on the official version of Vande Mataram. The plea also contends that the subject of the national song does not fall within the State List or Concurrent List of the Constitution, and therefore questions the state's executive authority to prescribe its form.

The High Court challenge adds a legal dimension to what has so far been a sharply political dispute, with the Congress and BJP taking opposing positions over how Vande Mataram should be rendered at government functions.

The court's consideration of the PIL could determine whether Karnataka's two-stanza directive can stand alongside the Union government's protocol on the national song.