Claim: Sonia Gandhi asked the choir to stop singing Vande Mataram after the first stanza.
Conclusion: The claim is false. Complete footage of the ceremony shows that the full version of Vande Mataram was sung and that the performance was not stopped. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh has clarified that Sonia Gandhi gestured to the staff to bring a chair for party president Mallikarjun Kharge.
Rating: False 
Several social media users have shared a video, claiming that Sonia Gandhi asked the choir to stop singing Vande Mataram after the first stanza. Verified X user ‘BefittingFacts’ shared such a post with the caption : “Sonia Gandhi was asking them to stop after the first stanza of Vande Mataram. They thought Vande Mataram would finish in just one minute.” Attached to the post is a 46 second video, featuring Sonia Gandhi making some gestures to the staff while standing near Congress party president Mallikarjun Kharge. View the post below –
Sonia Gandhi was asking them to stop after the first stanza of Vande Mataram. They thought Vande Mataram would finish in just one minute. pic.twitter.com/V9zzMFK5LE
— Facts (@BefittingFacts) August 15, 2026
Other users have shared similar claims that can be seen here , here and here
FACT CHECK
DigitEYE India decided to investigate this claim and found it to be false. The complete video of the ceremony confirms that the choir performed the full version of Vande Mataram without interruption. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh explained that Sonia Gandhi’s gestures were directed at the staff to arrange a chair for party president Mallikarjun Kharge.
We first conducted a reverse image search on various keyframes of the video to get the original source. The search took us to a Youtube video uploaded by the Indian National Congress on 15 August, 2026. This video is titled : “LIVE: Independence Day Flag Hoisting | Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge | AICC HQ”
In the video, the choir begins singing Vande Mataram at the 0:58 timestamp. From 2:31 onwards, Sonia Gandhi signals something to the staff, and the same visuals are taken and used in the claim. Following this, the choir continues singing the full version of Vande Mataram, which concludes at the 3:55 timestamp. This debunks the claim that only the first stanza was sung.
Following this, DigitEYE conducted a web search to learn more about the gestures made by Sonia Gandhi.
According to a Times of India report, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that the gestures were made to arrange a chair for the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. The report quoted him as saying, “As the Congress president was standing for a long time, Soniaji was asking for a chair for him.” This debunks allegations that Sonia Gandhi was attempting to stop the singing of Vande Mataram.
Another report by The Week also notes Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh’s clarification and the accusations by the BJP. Sonia Gandhi’s gestures were “highlighted by the BJP” and “BJP spokesperson R P Singh questioned why Sonia hated Vande Mataram so much.” The report states that “the party later clarified that Sonia was only asking for a chair for Kharge, who was standing during the flag hoisting ceremony.”
DigitEYE India found no verified audio of a stop order by Sonia Gandhi. Footage proves that the whole Vande Mataram was sung.
Thus, the claim is false.
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