Why has Vande Mataram - Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s song that inspired our freedom fighters - triggered a controversy 150 years after it was first written and 75 years since it was adopted as India’s National Song?
The issue stems from the parts adopted as the National Song, and the parts left out.
When Chatterjee first wrote the piece in 1875, it had only 2 stanzas that simply celebrated the beauty and bounty of the motherland. And soon it became a rallying cry in India’s fight for independence.
The British were alarmed, and initiated a crackdown. The Empire criminalised chanting the slogan, singing the song and even publishing any material containing the words. It was considered seditious and one could be imprisoned for it. But, the song kept gaining popularity and became synonymous with India's freedom struggle.
The problem was with the expanded version of the song. In 1882, Chatterjee included a six-stanza version of Vande Mataram in his Bengali novel, Anandamath. The new stanzas described the Fakir-Sannyasi Rebellion of the 1770s. Hindu monks had fought against Bengal's Muslim rulers at the time. The stanzas personified Mother India as a Hindu goddess. She was compared to Laxmi and Durga.
According to late historian Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, this version was used to stoke communal tensions in the early 20th century. Especially during the 1905 partition of Bengal -- into Hindu-majority West Bengal and Muslim-majority East Bengal. The Muslim League said the song promoted idol worship, a practice forbidden in Islam. Mohammed Ali Jinnah claimed it was being used to spread hatred.
In 1937, the Congress made a crucial decision to ease communal tensions and resolved to use only the first two stanzas, the more secular stanzas, at its official gatherings. Furthermore, in 1950, the Constituent Assembly chose to recognise this version of Vande Mataram as India’s national song.
75 years later, Prime Minister Modi calls the decision a grave injustice.
According to him, omitting important stanzas of the song was an example of Congress' appeasement politics. He claims the 1937 Congress decision put the country on the path to Partition.
The Opposition, including the Congress and TMC, disagree. They've accused the BJP of trying to rile up Bengali sentiments ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.
