Sainil Nagare

Of late the great nation of India seems to have embroiled itself in multiple bouts of nationalist issues. The most pressing of it is the controversy surrounding the national song of the country. 

Sometimes I wonder how can a country such as India which always boasts of intellectual past can allow such controversy to besiege itself? Well, the democracy and fundamental rights it allows to people have its own downside such as handing over decision making capabilities in the hands of ignorant people.

Anyways, lets dive deeper into the controversy.

On 8th December 2025 the government apparently initiated discussion on the 150th birth anniversary of Vande Mataram. 

As per my studies there are no record of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee or Chattopadhyay having composed this song in 1875. The claim that Vande Mataram was first drafted around 1875 comes from editorial notes in later historians such as Bankim Rachanabali and is repeated further by later historians like Barbara Southard and Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, though the earliest surviving published text is from Anandamath (1882).

So celebrating the 150th anniversary of the song itself is hypocritical. Any person with an iota of knowledge of politics would know the real reason behind the controversy is nothing but the Bengal election.

The song was first published in 1882 in Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s famous novel Anand Math which was focused upon the Sanyasi Rebellion. The rebellion which was undertaken mostly by Naga Sadhus because of their loss of employment under Awadh and Bengal Government in the 1870s due to Company’s direct seizure of rule in Bengal post Regulating Act 1773. However rather than blaming British the book directs its ire towards Muslims. The book Anandmath and Song Vande Matarm in this background had a religious undertone from the beginning itself.

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee hismself always held held pro-British and anti-Muslim stance. Having accepted the legitimacy of British rule, he supported English education and British system for India. In his writings, he used fictional characters to represent Muslims as oppressive and Hindus as victims. He concluded that Muslims would rule over Hindus if the British left South Asia.

This background of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee did not help the cause of unified nationalism from the beginning itself. 

The song became a theme song in the 1905 Swadeshi movement as the movement itself was lead by Aurobindo Ghosh whose credentials as a right wing and militant nationalist has been very well known. Ravindranth Tagore who was a supporter of religious nationalism in his initial life and was also one of the main people to give tunes to Vande Mataram was aware of the problem related to song and hence had created a separate song named Amar Shonal Bangla for the movement. However Vande Matarm song still had a deleterious effect on the movement as it was one of the reasons apart from Curzon’s carefully crafted policies that kept Muslims away from the movement. It was ever since that period of time the song had become controversial as it divided the national movement on religious lines. 

Since Congress leadership of those days had heavy presence of religious nationalist like Aurobindo Ghosh, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpatray and over a period of time that of Gandhiji and Sardar Patel the song continued to be used by Congress in its official functions. The national movement moved forward at its pace with the underlying issue of religious nationalism. Heavy bias towards Hindu nationalism was apparent in concepts of Bharat Mata or Bande Matarm Song or usage of anti-Mughal personalities such as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Maharana Pratap.

However the earliest formal, political objection came to all this in 1937 from the All-India Muslim League after provincial elections under the Government of India Act 1935 brought Indian National Congress ministries to power in several provinces. In Congress-run provinces, Vande Mataram was sung at official functions and in schools. League argued that the song equated the nation with Hindu goddesses (Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati), and therefore Muslims could not sing it without violating Islamic monotheism.

Jinnah criticized the Congress for allowing what he called a “Hindu song” in state functions of a supposedly secular administration. To prevent communal rupture, a Congress committee including: Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Subhas Chandra Bose. The committee did not include some famous faces like Sardar Patel or Rajendra Prasad because of their hindu right wing affiliations. The Committee decided that only the first two stanzas would be used. The goddess-description stanzas would be dropped from public use. The secular credentials of Nehru Azad can hardly be questioned but even controversial personalities like S C Bose stated , “No national symbol should create discomfort for any community participating in the freedom struggle.”

This decision of congress was widely accepted as a formula under which song will continue albeit with curtailed form to accommodate opinions of both Hindus and Muslims. The subsequent demand of separate nations for muslims under Lahore Resolution (1940) by Muslim League under M A Jinnah and Partition of the nation on the lines of religion was nothing but the tragedy of religious nationalism of our country.

The Constituent assembly which was created to draft constitution carefully avoided this controversy of Vande Mataram when On 24 January 1950, Rajendra Prasad declared Jana Gana Mana as the National Anthem and Vande Mataram as the National Song, granting it equal honour while avoiding controversy over its religious imagery. The matter was never put to vote. Again, never put to vote means even founding fathers of our country were aware of the disastrous impact that song might have on the unity and integrity of the nation. Nonetheless, the matter was done and dusted with a careful compromise as mentioned above.

Now almost 75 years after the commencement of the constitution, initiating the discussion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the mantra of Vande Mataram gave power and inspiration to the entire country and energised the freedom movement. He said, remembering the sacred Vande Mataram today is a great privilege for all members of this House and the countrymen. 

Mr Modi said that 150 years of Vande Mataram is an opportunity to re-establish that great chapter and the glory. As I stated earlier there is no evidence of Vande Mataram written in 1875 and hence there shall be no celebrations associated with it. Further the song did not inspire the entire country but inspired only Hindus that too only conservative sections of them and not liberal-secular.

Prime Minister Modi also said when Vande Mataram celebrated its 100th anniversary, the country was shaken by the emergency. He added that when the national song should have been celebrated with great fervor, the Constitution of India was strangled and those who lived and died for patriotism were imprisoned behind bars. This statement too perfectly fits in with that 150 years hypothesis. You put the date of Vande Matarm to 1875 which can provide you with an opportunity to criticise congress and also to fetch browny points in the upcoming Bengal Election.

Prime Minister Modi said, Vande Mataram is not just a mantra for political freedom but it was a sacred war cry to rid Bharat Mata of the shackles of colonialism. The war cry itself is a problem over here. The nation must decide whether it wants to run on the path of violence or Gandhiji’s Ahimsa and tolerance.

Prime Minister Modi said, Vande Mataram is the modern expression of this great cultural tradition. He said, the deep connection of Vande Mataram with the people reflects the journey of the country’s freedom movement. Mr Modi added that Vande Mataram gave strength and direction to the freedom movement. Rather it is an accepted truth that the song divided the nation and took the soul of national movement away thereby giving a deep scar of partition and division of the nation.

The Prime Minister highlighted that the politics of the Muslim League opposing Vande Mataram took place in 1937. Mr Modi criticized Congress for compromising on Vande Mataram. He alleged that Congress bowed to the Muslim League on the national song. The Prime Minister said Mohammed Ali Jinnah raised slogans against it and the then Congress chief Jawaharlal Nehru, instead of condemning Jinnah he started investigating Vande Mataram just five days after Jinnah’s opposition. This is where the attitude of the great Prime Minister is horribly wrong. The problem has been there ever since 1905 as I stated earlier. Nehru was president of Indian National Congress and it was his responsibility to assuage the minority opinions. Unlike the present Prime Minister India had the fortune to have caring leaders for all the communities of the nation rather than glorifying one particular section of it.

To conclude, India and its founding father chose for secular nationalism in which rather than  Bharat Mata, Vande Mataram or Saffron colour flag the constituent assembly chose for India i.e. Bharat, Jan Gana Man and tricolour flag. The later three parameters formed the base of secular India which stood against the development of Hindu India. 

The government has already trampled upon the ideals of India (by preferring Bharat only), and that of tricolor by flagging saffron dhwaja everywhere. The national anthem was the only remaining untouched parameter. By entering into that domain the government has entered into damaging the last standing parameter of secularism. 

There is a general acceptance in politico-administrative circles that the issue was unearthed as it aligns perfectly not only for upcoming Bengal elections whereby debates have to be directed towards religious nationalism rather than development as has been the agenda of the existing government but also it makes a perfect stepping stone towards Amrit Kaal of 2047.

The only unfortunate thing is that nobody is willing to speak up against it!