Vande Mataram Ali Jinnah opposed the song. Thereafter, with the support of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawahar Lal Nehru, the Indian National Congress decided to adopt only the first two stanzas as the national song to be sung at public gatherings, and other verses that included references to Durga and Lakshmi were expunged. Rajendra Prasad, who was presiding the Constituent Assembly on 24 January 1950, made the following statement which was also adopted as the final decision on the issue: ...The composition consisting of words and music known as Jana Gana Mana is the National Anthem of India, subject to such alterations as
I Vow to Thee, My Country are peace" (KJV), in the context of which the feminine pronoun refers to Wisdom. The original first verse of Spring-Rice's poem "Urbs Dei/The Two Father Lands" (1908–1912), never set to music, was as follows: <poem style="margin-left: 2em;"> I heard my country calling, away across the sea, Across the waste of waters, she calls and calls to me. Her sword is girded at her side, her helmet on her head, And around her feet are lying the dying and the dead; I hear the noise of battle, the thunder of her guns; I haste to thee, my mother, a son among