Vande Mataram row triggers uproar in Palakkad municipal council

A dispute over the singing of Vande Mataram disrupted the Palakkad municipal council meeting on Friday (September 11, 2026), escalating into a confrontation between councillors.

As the council prepared to meet, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) played a recorded version of the national song in full through loudspeakers before proceedings began. Congress councillors staged a walkout while it was being played.

The trouble had begun when Congress councillors demanded that a separate resolution be introduced on the singing of Vande Mataram. Municipal Chairperson P. Smithesh rejected the demand.

Opposition councillors from the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) then entered the well of the council in protest. The situation soon escalated into a confrontation between BJP and Congress councillors, with members pushing and shoving each other.

This is not the first dispute in the Palakkad municipality over Vande Mataram. On August 31, UDF councillors had staged a walkout as BJP councillors sang the song in full.

The UDF councillors said the front had decided not to sing the national song in full and that they opposed the BJP's insistence on it. Traditionally, only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram have been recited at municipal council meetings. LDF councillors also did not sing the song in full and returned to their seats after the first two stanzas were sung.