There will be a debate on ‘Vande Mataram’ in Parliament, first PM Modi and finally Rajnath Singh will raise the issue.

There is going to be a special debate in Parliament on the occasion of completion of 150 years of India’s national song ‘Vande Mataram’. This debate is once again refreshing old wounds regarding its history, use and symbolism. The day-long discussion in the Lok Sabha on Monday (December 8) will be initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and concluded by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, while in the Rajya Sabha the next day, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will lead the discussion.

This debate will be a clash between political parties, and in its backdrop the debate will center on the song which, originating from nineteenth century literature, became a national rallying cry in the freedom movement and whose resonance remains central to India’s nationalist thought even today.

At the center of the debate is the historical journey of this song which took it, born in the literary writings of Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay, from the publication of Anandmath to the slogans of the Swadeshi movement, Congress sessions and British repression. Later in 1937, the Congress Working Committee decided to keep only the first two stanzas for public use, saying that these lines were in vogue at the national level and that the religious symbolism in the further stanzas was such that the Muslim community could not accept them.

While declaring Jana Gana Mana as the national anthem in 1950, the Constituent Assembly had said that Vande Mataram would continue to enjoy national respect and status.

The renewed debate on the history of the song is gaining momentum as Prime Minister Modi, on the occasion of its 150th anniversary, accused the Congress of removing important verses from the song in the 1937 Faizabad session and this move was tantamount to sowing the seeds of division. Modi said that the division of the original composition weakened its sentiments. However, in response to this, Congress is saying that this decision was taken unanimously by the working committee comprising leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Subhash Chandra Bose, Rajendra Prasad, Abul Kalam Azad and Sarojini Naidu.

The party cited Gandhi’s collected literature and said the move was taken with sensitivity, as only the first two verses were in wide use and the other verses contained goddess-emblem based imagery which Muslims objected to. The Congress also reminded that Rabindranath Tagore had sung it at the 1896 Congress session, and the party insisted that national symbols should not alienate anyone. Currently, the Congress party accused the Prime Minister of using history to divert attention from governance issues like unemployment, inequality and foreign policy.

According to historical accounts, Sri Aurobindo wrote in Bande Mataram Patra in 1907 that Bankimchandra composed this song around 1875. With the serial publication of Anandamath in Bangadarshan in 1881, it reached a wide readership. In the novel, three images of Bharat Mata – who was, who is and who will be – were depicted through the struggle of the children. Aurobindo considered it a patriotic religion, while later critics continued to say that the goddess-symbol based language in the following verses does not include all communities (especially the Muslim community).

By the beginning of the twentieth century “Vande Mataram” had become the central slogan of the Swadeshi movement. This call was echoed in the processions and meetings of the movements against the partition of Bengal in 1905. In the Barisal procession of 1906, more than 10,000 people from both Hindu and Muslim communities moved together with this slogan. The British government tried to ban it, but the song continued to spread. ‘Vande Mataram’ was also inscribed on the first foreign tricolor displayed in Stuttgart by Madam Bhikaji Cama in 1907.

By the 1930s, objections regarding religious images had started coming to the fore, due to which the decision of 1937 was taken. In the current political scenario, BJP calls it a symbol of civilizational heritage, while Congress calls it the collective heritage of the freedom movement and says that BJP is using history for political struggle.

On the other hand, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind President Maulana Mahmood Madani has said that only the first two verses are acceptable for national use, because in the further verses Bharat Mata is presented as Goddess Durga, which is not in accordance with Islamic faith. According to him, there is an element of Shirk i.e. polytheism in the following verses, which Muslims cannot repeat. Thus, the song’s 150th anniversary has become an occasion when its history, politics, cultural context and religious discourse have all together returned to the center of national debate.

Also read:

Defense Minister inaugurates record 125 strategic projects of BRO, major boost to connectivity in border areas

India preparing to buy 300 R-37M missiles; SU-30MKI will get a tremendous advantage

Controversy over JD Vance’s immigration statement, critics said – “First send your wife Usha back to India”

Malayalam actor Dilip acquitted in gangrape case!