Kerala: Full Vande Mataram sung at govt event attended by Vice President

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The full version of the national song ‘Vande Mataram’ was sung at the closing ceremony of the Kerala government’s Onam week celebration on Sunday, August 30, which was attended by Vice President CP Radhakrishnan. 

This is the first time that Vande Mataram was sung fully at a government event in Kerala, following the controversy over singing the full six-stanza version. Earlier, the government had omitted Vande Mataram during the official state-level Independence Day function at Central Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram.

According to reports, the office of the Vice President informed the state protocol department that the national song must be sung in full. Singing the full six-stanza version of Vande Mataram is mandatory at all official government functions, including any formal state event where the Vice President is participating. 

Minister PC Vishnunath stated that the state government must follow proper protocol during the Vice President’s visit. “There is a protocol for the Prime Minister, President and Vice President. The state cannot intervene in the protocol,” the minister told the media.

The official version of the national song, as per a July 9 order issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, contains six stanzas. The MHA order said that “the official version only shall be recited in mass singing” whenever the national song is sung.

However, singing Vande Mataram in full is politically contested, as the last four stanzas are communally charged.

The full version of Vande Mataram earlier created a huge controversy in Kerala; it began in May, when the Kerala Assembly played only a truncated, two-stanza version of the song ahead of Governor Rajendra Arlekar’s address, drawing strong objections from Lok Bhavan. Later, the song was entirely absent from the Kerala government’s official Independence Day celebrations in Thiruvananthapuram.

Meanwhile, the BJP in Kerala organised mass events to sing the full six-stanza version at 15,000 centres across Kerala on Independence Day.