BD NarayankarBengaluru, June 4 -- Politics often reveals itself not through speeches or manifestos but through moments, symbols and songs.
One such moment unfolded at the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar when the full rendition of Vande Mataram was sung before an audience that included Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and K C Venugopal.
On the face of it, there was nothing extraordinary about the rendering of a song that inspired generations of freedom fighters. Yet the scene carried a certain historical irony. It was the Congress itself that, nearly nine decades ago, helped establish the convention that only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram would be used at public functions.
In 1937, ...