India, May 11 -- As thousands cheered for actor-turned politician C Joseph Vijay during his oath-taking ceremony as the new chief minister of Tamil Nadu, the national song, Vande Matram, was sung in full, followed by the national anthem, the State song Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu at the packed Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai, on Sunday.

The sequence follows an order by the Ministry of Home Affairs in January stating that all six stanzas of Vande Mataram, written by Bengali poet Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, shall be sung first when the national song and the national anthem are to be played together.

The Government's directive had triggered a major political row, with Opposition parties sharply criticising the move. The Congress said the move...