The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday made a U-turn and decided to restore the practice of singing Vande Mataram at the state secretariat from February, PTI reported.

The national song was sung at the secretariat on the first working day of every month during the rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party government but on Tuesday the Kamal Nath government decided to scrap the tradition.

A police band will march from Shourya Samarak to Vallabh Bhawan in Bhopal on the first day of the month while playing the song, and the national anthem will also be sung, the new state government added.

Kamal Nath claimed the government has given the national song “a different look”, ANI reported. “I have been saying from the start that I will give it a different look, I have announced it today,” he said. “The Bharatiya Janata Party, which doesn’t have a single freedom fighter, should not teach us nationalism.”

The state government went back on its decision to end the tradition after criticism from the saffron party. Rajneesh Agrawal, the BJP state spokesperson, on Wednesday asked if the decision was taken by the chief minister. “He [Nath] has recently said that he does not care for criticism,” Agrawal said. “Is there going to be a ban on ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ chant?”

Former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday claimed that the Congress government has succumbed to public pressure. “But the question is, was the decision not to sing Vande Mataram made by Congress President Rahul Gandhi, or was it Nath himself?” he asked. “The people of Madhya Pradesh must get an answer.”