CJP's suggestion to BJP amid Vande Mataram row: ‘Why not hold special Parliament session to fix govt schools?’

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party’s focus on the ongoing Vande Mataram debate, questioning why the government does not instead convene a special session of Parliament to address the state of government schools and colleges.

In a post on social media, CJP spokesperson Saurav Das said the focus should rathe be on improving the country's education system so that more personalities such as Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and Rabindranath Tagore could emerge and receive quality education.

“Instead of doing this PR for your political agenda, why can’t you call a special session of Parliament to specifically discuss how to fix our govt schools and colleges?” Das said reacting to a post of BJP leader Smriti Irani about Vande Mataram being sung during a party meeting in Delhi held on 22 August.

Irani, former Union Education Minister, was recently appointed as the General Secretary In-Charge of Uttar Pradesh, where assembly elections are scheduled for next year.

“All so that more Bankim Chandra Chatterjees and Rabindranath Tagores are born and receive quality education? Why is this party only interested in PR?” Das asked.

Das's remarks come amid a political row over Vande Mataram, with the BJP and Congress trading charges over the national song and its rendition. The issue has also triggered a broader discussion about the song's historical and cultural significance with the Congress adamant on singing only first two stanzas.

What is the Vande Mataram Row?

In the meeting on 22 August, the BJP condemned the Congress for its decision to sing just two stanzas of Vande Mataram at its events and vowed to protect the dignity and the national status of the full version of the national song.

In a 10-point resolution passed at a meeting in the national capital of its office-bearers, the ruling party also said it will launch a nationwide campaign to spread the significance of Vande Mataram and reminded the Congress that a resolution of its working committee cannot override the constitutional institutions or laws of India.

The BJP will also educate and mobilise people, especially the younger generation, so that all six stanzas of the national song and its history are not forgotten, and future generations understand the sacrifices, struggles and patriotic awakening with which Vande Mataram is inseparably associated, the party resolved.

"A political compromise of 1937 cannot be elevated above the constitutional settlement of 1950 and legislation enacted by Parliament in 2026," the BJP said.

The party asserted that it will disseminate Mahatma Gandhi's statement in which he described Vande Mataram as an "anti-imperialist slogan" associated with the "purest national sentiment", and expose the Congress by telling people how the national song was truncated to serve its "politics of appeasement".

BJP president Nitin Nabin presided over the meeting, the first since he overhauled the party's national team on Monday, bringing in many new faces and some prominent leaders like former Union minister Smriti Irani as general secretary and former RSS functionary Ram Madhav as vice president.

Later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also visited the BJP headquarters and interacted with the newly-appointed national office-bearers of the party.

The BJP resolution came after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Wednesday decided to abide by its 1937 resolution on Vande Mataram, saying only two stanzas of the national song would be sung at all party events henceforth.

In its resolution, the BJP emphasised that it regards Vande Mataram as the national song of Bharat, an expression of reverence for Bharat Mata, a mantra of the freedom struggle and an immortal symbol of India's national consciousness.

"The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) therefore resolves to strongly condemn and unequivocally oppose the Congress Working Committee's decision of 19th August 2026 to reaffirm its 1937 resolution and restrict Vande Mataram to its first two stanzas at Congress programmes," it said.

On July 30, Parliament passed the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Act, 2026, which grants Vande Mataram the same legal status as the national anthem, Jana Gana Mana.

Under the amended law, intentionally disrupting or preventing the singing of Vande Mataram is a criminal offence punishable with up to 3 years of imprisonment, a fine, or both.

(With agency inputs)