NEW DELHI: A day after Congress took exception to J&K CM Omar Abdullah and his father Farooq Abdullah standing during the full rendition of Vande Mataram, BJP on Wednesday attacked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for opposing the full version of the national song and dubbed him “Rahul mian”.BJP president Nitin Nabin targeted the main opposition party at a presser in Delhi and stepped up his attack at a BJP event in Haldwani in Uttarakhand. BJP has said Congress’s stand is driven by its appeasement of Muslim voters, a section of which considers Vande Mataram idolatrous in violation of their religious beliefs.Congress general secretary K C Venugopal Tuesday said on social media, “With respect and humility, we would like our allies to honour the wisdom and judgment of our freedom fighters, and stand with us in singing only the version of this beautiful and historic song that they adopted. That version was chosen deliberately, to keep the song from being communalised-a threat as real today as it was then.”Blaming Rahul for Congress’s stand on Vande Mataram, Nabin said Rahul cannot appreciate the national song’s significance as he was raised in a “foreign culture”. He is unable to grasp the importance of Indian culture, the BJP chief alleged.

Such a Congress must be brought to an end, he told BJP members, ruing that a song that inspired freedom fighters to make the ultimate sacrifice makes the opposition party and its former president Sonia Gandhi feel “embarrassed”. It was a reference to Sonia gesturing to Congress members at an Independence Day event at the party’s office when the song was being played in full.Nabin said an “anti-national and anarchic” mindset is driving Congress. BJP said the Srinagar event has confirmed Congress’ isolation within its own alliance and its emergence as the new Muslim League.The song has become a symbol of the honour and unity of nation, he asserted.