New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Nitin Nabin on Sunday took strong exception to the insult meted out to the national song 'Vande Mataram' during the Independence Day celebrations at the Congress headquarters, saying that this has exposed party's double standards on its 'Indianness'.

The BJP President took to his official X account to call out disgraceful conduct of the top Congress leaders during the rendition of Vande Mataram at the Indira Bhavan in the national capital and said that the grand old party hasn't learnt to respect the national song even after 80 years of Independence.

"Once again, it has been proven that even eight decades after independence, the Congress has no respect for 'Vande Mataram'," Nabin said.

The BJP Chief added that when the national song was being sung at the Congress headquarters, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi signaled to stop it.

"This is no coincidence, but the bitter truth of the Congress' distorted thinking," he remarked.

Nabin also said that the grand old party has remained uncomfortable with the sacred song of 'Mother India' and the people of the country now fully understood how disconnected it is to Indianness.

The controversy over Congress event at Indira Bhavan erupted on Saturday, as Sonia Gandhi was seen on camera instructing the volunteers to stop the national song in between, purportedly after the first two stanzas.

BJP launched a scathing critique of the Congress leader Sonia Gandhi over the controversy while Jairam Ramesh, party's General Secretary later clarified that Sonia Gandhi's gesture was not to stop the Vande Mataram but to arrange a chair for party President Mallikarjun Kharge, who was standing for a long time.

The BJP President also lambasted the Congress government in Kerala over the 'Vande Mataram' row.

Nitin Nabin claimed that Kerala government has gone to the extent of removing 'Vande Mataram' from the Independence Day celebrations.

"Bowing down before extremists has now become the Congress party's permanent policy. For the sake of their dirty politics of appeasement, they have insulted those thousands of freedom fighters who adorned this very song on their lips and sacrificed their lives for the nation," he said.

Asserting that this was not merely an incident of stopping a song, the BJP Chief said that this shows the dynastic arrogance of Congress under which it is averse to every single thing in India that this nation takes pride in.

--IANS

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