Two senior functionaries quickly called New Delhi to cross-check.

With senior leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Venkaiah Naidu present, BJP office-bearers decided to shelve the day’s agenda and go all out on Vande Mataram. Since the highlight of today’s session was the presidential address, the party promptly planned additions to the prepared text of Rajnath’s speech. They also named a five-member committee under Venkaiah Naidu to plan the future course of action.

The party resolve behind him, Rajnath Singh went hammer and tongs on Vande Mataram. He demanded that Vande Mataram be placed under Article 51-A of the Constitution so that it is “accorded respect”. He then said different explanations were being given for Sonia’s absence from the AICC function. “She was unwell, they said. She was busy, they said. But her absence was a deliberate and conscious decision due to vote-bank compulsions. It shows how seriously the Congress takes the most vibrant symbol of our freedom struggle. It has been proved that today’s Sonia Congress does not represent the legacy of the original Congress,” he said.

Sonia’s absence, senior leaders felt, had fuelled the debate on the song. They saw in it an opportunity to revive the foreign-origin debate and package Hindutva as nationalism.

A senior leader told The Indian Express, “We will tell people that it was just natural for Sonia not to salute Mother India. She is being just what she is.”

Caught between RSS pressure to push Hindutva and the NDA partners’ insistence that it keep that agenda on the backburner, the BJP hopes to now make it to the good books of the Sangh again.

In fact, a booklet released today by the party on Vande Mataram contains quotes from Parivar leaders like RSS chief K S Sudarshan and VHP chief Ashok Singhal.