India, Aug. 20 -- A decision to sing just two stanzas of Vande Mataram has, in the space of a day, pulled 1937 history, Partition and the freedom movement back into the middle of Indian politics. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday called the Congress' move "anti-national", while Congress leader Jairam Ramesh hit back, calling the BJP's nationalism fake and telling Prime Minister Narendra Modi he had been "tried", was now "tired" and should "retire".

At the centre of the row is a decision taken by the Congress Working Committee on Wednesday to render only two stanzas of the national song rather than the full version. Shah called the move "anti-national" and an open defiance of a law passed by Parliament. In a post on X, he linked i...