New Delhi: The Congress hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday after his attack on the party over the dropping of stanzas from “Vande Mataram” in 1937, saying Rabindranath Tagore himself had suggested that the first two stanzas of the song be adopted and it was “shameful” of the prime minister to accuse the Nobel laureate of harbouring a divisive ideology.

The opposition party also demanded an apology from Modi over his statement.

In an apparent attack on the Congress, the prime minister said important stanzas of the national song, “Vande Mataram”, were dropped in 1937, which sowed the seeds of the partition, and asserted that such a “divisive mindset” is still a challenge for the country.

He made the comments after inaugurating the year-long commemoration of “Vande Matar

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