Identity Issue to Fore: The Vande Mataram Row

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) thrives on identity issues. It uses these issues to polarise the society and to reap electoral benefits from that. So far, starting from the Babri Mosque-Ram Temple issue, cow-beef, ‘love jihad’ and many other types of jihads, have been major tools in its hand. To add on to that, one more issue has been brought to the fore -- the issue of National Song Vande Mataram.

On the occasion of 150 Anniversary of this song (November 7, 2025), written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (BCC), a deputy collector in the British government, the issue was manufactured by the ruling dispensation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that Congress, and Jawaharlal Nehru truncated it under pressure from the Muslim League (ML). This buckling to the pressure from ML also led to the partition of the country, as per him.

Others from the Hindutva Right-wing joined the chorus. Here is Modi’s formulation: he not only raised a non-issue to the centre-stage of politics but also tried to defame Nehru yet again. Defaming Nehru on every pretext is the consistent goal of Right-wing politics. He 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Vande Mataram was written in the 1870s and remained unpublished.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 BCC’s novel Anandmath. This novel was written based 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 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 British rule. In 1905, when the British divided Bengal on the basis of religion, the massive protests were led with this song and the song ‘Aamar Sonar Bangla’.

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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 these assemblies and some schools. Most of the assemblies had Congress rule, while Muslim League was ruling only in three states.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in his avatar of the communal leader, of ML, 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.

This objection of Jinnah 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 (CAC) 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 Achchha (Best in the Word) by Mohammad Iqbal, Vande Mataram (BCC) 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 and such a large amount of time allotted for discussion in Parliament on it?

The country is writhing in pain with deprivations at various levels, poverty, unemployment, pollution, declining standards of public health and education. At this time, to bring forth this issue may have had a deeper communal agenda. When Jinnah had raised the issue in the 1930s, Nehru had stated in a forthright manner that the issue 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. The slogan of Vande Mataram was raised by those fighting against the British. Since the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS had kept aloof from the freedom movement and helped the British in their efforts of continuing 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 sang 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.   

 The writer is a human rights activist, who taught at IIT Bombay. The views are personal.