Lucknow, Dec. 22 -- The decision of the Congress to truncate Vande Mataram under its appeasement policy led to cultural division and the Partition of the country, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said in a discussion in the legislative assembly on Monday to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the national song.

Urging members to read Anandmath authored by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Adityanath said the respect for Vande Mataram is not merely an emotional expression.

"It also instils in all of us a sense of our national duties towards constitutional values," he said.

The compromise on Vande Mataram by the Congress was not out of respect for religious sentiments, but the first and most dangerous experiment in the party's appeasement pol...