THE Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been known to focus on identity issues, often using contentious topics to shape public discourse and polarise society to reap electoral benefits. Starting from Babri Mosque-Ram Temple issue, cow-beef, ‘love jihad’ and many other types of jihads, the BJP has taken several tools in its hand to grab power and then stick to it. The party recently brought up one more seemingly innocent issue to the fore — National Song Vande Mataram.
On the 150th anniversary of this song (November 7, 2025), written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, a deputy collector in the British government, the issue was thrown up by the ruling dispensation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that Congress, and Jawaharlal Nehru truncated it under pressure from the Muslim League. He also opined that this buckling to the Muslim League pressure ultimately led to the partition of the country.
Others from the Hindutva right-wing joined the chorus. Here is Modi’s formulation: he not only brought a non-issue to the centre-stage of politics but also tried to defame Nehru, yet again. Defaming, demeaning and denigrating Nehru on each and every pretext is the consistent goal of right-wing politics. Unfortunately, Nehru has been blamed for every failure of the Modi government.
Vande Mataram was written in the 1870s and remained unpublished. It was expanded to few more stanzas and made a part of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s novel Anandmath. The novel’s storyline revolves around the sanyasi (Hindu ascetic) and fakir (Muslim ascetic) rebellion. The fakir part of it was hidden in the novel and it was primarily shown as a sanyasi rebellion against the then Muslim ruler. The novel does dream of mosques being replaced by temples and ends up with the uprooting of the Muslim king and restoration of British rule.
Ironically, ‘Vande Mataram’ did become a political slogan against the British and became a war cry for the various rebellions and actions against the colonial rule. In 1905, when the British divided Bengal on the basis of religion, massive protests were led with this song and the song ‘Aamar Sonar Bangla’.
The song Vande Mataram went on to be very popular all over India and after the formation of state assemblies, it started being sung in them and some educational institutions. Most of the assemblies had Congress rule, while Muslim League was in power only in three states.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in his avatar of the Muslim League leader, objected to this song as being Hindu-centric, with idolatry in it. Incidentally, the opposition to idolatry is not only in Islam but also in the Arya Samaj sect of Hinduism.
Jinnah’s opposition came up for discussion between Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose through their letters. Nehru undertook to take the advice of Gurudev Rabindra Nath Tagore, who was a tall literary figure. Gurudev opined that its first two paragraphs are acceptable to all, as these are in praise of the motherland. The remaining four paras are in the imagery of Hinduism, so they can be dropped.
Since the song had become very popular, there was a serious discussion in the Congress Working Committee on the issue, which resolved, “These two stanzas (first, added) are in no sense objectionable even from the standpoint of those who have raised objections, and they contain the essence of the song. The committee recommended that wherever the ‘Vande Mataram’ song is sung at national gatherings, only these two stanzas should be sung, and the version and music prepared by Rabindranath Tagore should be followed. The committee trusted that this decision will remove all causes of complaint and will have the willing acceptance of all communities in the country.”
The Constituent Assembly’s Anthem Committee, with Vallabh Bhai Patel, K M Munshi and others, considered three songs for this. Sare Jahan se Achcha (Best in the Word) by Mohammad Iqbal, Vande Mataram and Jan Gan Man (Rabindranath Tagore). Sare Jahan… was ruled out as Iqbal himself had become a strong supporter of Pakistan. The first two paras of Vande Mataram were selected as the National Song and Jan Gan Man was chosen as the National Anthem.
Vande Mataram and Jan Gan Man both have equal status.
The issue was settled with a great amount of consensus. Decades after the issue was settled, why is the issue being raised now and such a huge timeframe was allotted for its discussion in Parliament?
The country is writhing in pain with deprivations at various levels — poverty, unemployment, pollution, declining standards of public health and education. To bring forth this issue at this juncture definitely reeks of some deeper communal agenda. When Jinnah raised the issue in the 1930s, Nehru forthrightly said it was being raised by communal elements. The same is happening now. The other stream of communal politics is now rampaging Indian ethos, the values of our Constitution and the country’s pluralism.
Incidentally, the communal stream which is now asking for the full version to be brought in, had never sung this song. This was sung primarily in Indian National Congress meetings. Vande Mataram slogan was raised by those fighting against the British. Since the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had kept aloof from the freedom movement and helped the British in their ‘divide and rule’ policy, they had not sung this song or raised this slogan.
The Indian struggle against British rule was multi-religious, multilingual and multi-ethnic. In this, women and men both took part to ensure that a united India emerges. The Muslim League was asking for Pakistan in Muslim-majority areas and the Hindu Mahasabha and RSS were working for a Hindu Nation.
The Constituent Assembly in a way represented the aspirations of emerging India. The Vande Mataram and Jan Gan Man issue was settled by representatives of India, the founding fathers of Indian nationalism.
Those who remained aloof from the freedom movement do not follow the norms of the Indian Constitution. While today they are arguing for this song in full, in their shakhas they never give respect to this song. They had their own, Namaste Sada Vatsale Matrabhume (Salute you affectionate Motherland). They stuck to their saffron flag; rejecting the tricolour, their faith in the Indian Constitution is for namesake only.
The implications of this song in full will have a lot of negative impact now. Non-Hindus singing it in schools and public institutions will lead to dislike among many who are already full of fear of their identity being attacked and are being subjected to humiliation at various levels, due to the domination of identity issues.
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Ram Puniyani is an eminent author, activist and a former professor at IIT Mumbai. The views expressed here are author’s personal and Clarion India does not necessarily share or subscribe to them.
