India commemorated the 150th anniversary of its national song “Vande (Bande) Mataram” on 7th November with a postage stamp and coin as Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to the revolutionary hymn as “a mantra, an energy, a dream, a solemn resolve, a prayer to mother India” during an event at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. He launched year-long commemoration of the 150 years of the National Song.
दिल्ली में राष्ट्र गीत वन्देमातरम् के 150 वर्षों के ऐतिहासिक समारोह में शामिल होकर एक नई ऊर्जा का अनुभव हो रहा है। pic.twitter.com/fnQBcyMS6a
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 7, 2025
A year-long nationwide program has been launched in the honour of the occasion. State governments, cultural groups and educational institutions will observe it with a variety of events and activities.
वन्देमातरम् के 150 वर्षों की स्मृति में विशेष डाक टिकट और स्मारक सिक्का जारी कर गौरवान्वित हूं। pic.twitter.com/nYBRGcFS1W
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 7, 2025
Bankimchandra Chatterjee created “Vande Mataram” on the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Navami on 7th November 1875 to honour the homeland and was later included in his 1882 novel “Anandamath.” The song was originally performed in public at the Indian National Congress session in 1896 by Rabindranath Tagore who also composed its music.
It has been played with incredible devotion and passion throughout the centuries ever since. However, the song which instilled a profound sense of patriotism and sacrifice in every freedom fighter as well as stoked fear in the heart of the British Empire was subjected to fatwas and communal attacks.
The members of the Muslim community alleged that the song contained explicit Hindu religious implications and portrayed the motherland as Goddess Durga. The self-proclaimed leader of the freedom movement, the Indian National Congress rather than countering these elements and affirming the cultural and traditional foundations of the land, opted to respond in a completely contrary manner.
Hence, the song was mutilated as four stanzas were dropped out of six to satisfy a radical faction of society that ultimately betrayed the nation. The Congress party yielded to the dictates of the Muhammad Ali Jinnah led Muslim League and did not hesitate to amputate such an integral part of the country’s freedom movement.
The correspondence and addresses of India’s first prime minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, who was one of the pioneers of the Indian secularism and among the tallest faces of the party, emphasized how submissively its leadership acquiesced to appease the Islamists.
Removed stanzas from Vande Mataram: Nehru tells Jinnah
Nehru discussed about the forced religious controversy regarding “Vande Mataram” with Jinnah and he referenced the extensive statement from the Congress Working Committee in an intense attempt to point out his secular merits to the partitioner of India.
“First of all it has to be remembered that no formal national anthem has been adopted by the Congress at any time. It is true, however, that the Bande Mataram song has been intimately associated with Indian nationalism for more than thirty years and numerous associations of sentiment and sacrifice have gathered round it,” Nehru informed, according to the Congress and the Muslims.
The Working Committee, which met in Calcutta from 26th October to 1st November 1937, ruled that the Muslims community’s opposition to “Vande Mataram” was legitimate and suggested that only the song’s first two stanzas be performed at national events.
He initially conveyed, “Popular songs are not made to order, nor can they be successfully imposed. They grow out of public sentiment. During all these thirty or more years the Bande Mataram song was never considered as having any religious significance and was treated as a national song in praise of India. Nor, to my knowledge, was any objection taken to it except on political grounds by the government.”
Nehru swiftly focused on the central issue of how the party accommodated the Muslims by determining “to recommend that certain stanzas which contained certain allegorical references, might not be used on national platforms or occasions.”
He further stated, “The two stanzas that have been recommended by the Working Committee for use as a national song have not a word or a phrase which can offend anybody from any point of view and I am surprised that anyone can object to them. They may appeal to some more than to others. Some may prefer another national song and they have full freedom to do so.”
Nehru conveniently overlooked the fact that no one can truly appease an Islamist. If you give them an inch, they will take a mile and then some more. He then implored, “But to compel large numbers of people to give up what they have long valued and grown attached to is to cause needless hurt to them and injure the national movement itself. It would be improper for a national organisation to do this.”
Bande Mataram has religious connotations, my ideology supersedes the song: Nehru announces in an address
Nehru announced that his party had chosen to acknowledge the Muslim perspective regarding “Vande Mataram” because it aims to represent the viewpoint of all of India apparently including the fanatics as it is known as the “All India Congress.”
“There are certain words in it which certainly can be taken objection to by some. If so we have no sufficient answer to give to those who object. We do not very much mind the objections of some people who do it just for the sake of it,” he declared during a speech.
Nehru subsequently insisted that the statement issued by the Congress Working Committee was made after extensive discussions, reflections and considerations not solely for the citizens of Calcutta or Bengal (Bankimchandra Chatterjee’s native place) but for thirty-five crores of India.
“We have to deal with a large number of people who do not know the background of the Bande Mataram song. They have heard it and they have liked it and a sentiiment had grown around it. Few know how it arose and when it arose. Because of this ignorance of the background many honest misconceptions have arisen about it,” he pointed out.
Nehru articulated the critical role and crucial position of the song, which is condemned by a specific religious group, in India’s freedom struggle. He tried to label the strong opposition, rooted in religious fundamentalism as misunderstandings and “honest misconceptions.”
However, the All India Congress Committee willingly decided to pacify its historically favored voter base instead of elucidating these points, by arguing that while the initial verses of the song meet the secular standards of Congress and the later ones do not.
“We have recognised that in the rest of the song there is ideology, imagery, allegory, etc., which people of various groups cannot put up with. Remember, we are thinking in terms of a national song for all India. Therefore if there is an ideology which various groups in India cannot honestly and sincerely accept, then, it is an improper ideology for a national song,” Nehru argued further fuelling the objections raised by the Islamists.
Furthermore, in a distasteful display of his “secular” credentials, Nehru bragged that the song which motivated millions to live and die for their country is of minimal importance to him while creating a false equivalence between Hindu and Muslim ideologies to further pacify the latter.
“I, for myself, cannot really enthuse over an ideology, Hindu or Muslim. As soon as the ideology comes. I forget Bande Mataram. People’s mind is diverted to other thoughts and it introduces a sense of confusion in their minds, since their attention is diverted to allegories, phraseologies and ideologies which do not suit other people,” he boasted.
Nehru contended that the song’s latter sections were rarely heard in the rest of India and the Congress which recognised the practice had to dispel some “misapprehensions which were justified.” He then lauded, “I think the Working Committee’s statement is a good statement and a right statement. To all our. friends, who have seen some danger in it, I say that there is no danger in it and it is not disparagement of the song that has grown up in our national movement.”
Congress and Nehru, fundamentally, agreed that the concerns were baseless, yet they had to be upheld to sustain the facade of “secularism,” which is the suppression of Hindu rights, sentiments and feelings for Muslims.
No relation to Congress, India should have another national song: Nehru’s letter to Sardar Jafri
Nehru discussed the religious row surrounding “Vande Mataram” in a letter dated September 1937 to Urdu writer and poet Ali Sardar Jafri, asserting that the song is unrelated to the Congress. Nevertheless, he acknowledged that the song become deeply intertwined with the sentiment of independence and holds a significant place for the Indian people.
He stated, “The Congress has not officially adopted any song as a kind of national anthem. In practice however the Bande Mataram is often used in national gatherings together with other songs. The reason for this is that 30 years ago this song and this cry became a criminal offence and developed into a challenge to British imperialism.”
Nehru outlined that thousands of people suffered as a result and the populace began to identify the song with a struggle against British imperialism, making it symbol of nationalism in India. He insisted, “I do not think anybody considers the words to have anything to do with a goddess. That interpretation is absurd. Nor are we concerned with the idea that the author of the book, which contains this song, had in his mind when he wrote it, because the public does not think on these lines.”
Nehru clarified that the entire song and its lyrics were completely “harmless” and no one can “take exception to their meaning,” to further establish the “secular credentials” of the Congress, as a defence against accusations of communalism from the Muslim community. He then proceeded to reveal the true agenda and conveyed that “Vande Mataram” should not be regarded as a national song.
“It contains too many difficult words which people do not understand and the ideas it contains are also out of keeping with modem notions of nationalism and progress,” Nehru contended to justify his absurd statement and added, “We should certainly try to have more suitable national songs in simple language.”
Nehru after stressing that the creation was not associated with his party and was excessively complex to be designated as a national song, tried to perform a counterbalancing act and expressed, “But great songs and anthems cannot be made to order. It requires a genius for the purpose.”
“I suppose in time we shall get something good. Meanwhile, there is no reason why we should not give full permission for the use of the Bande Mataram as well as other favoured songs which many people have come to associate with our struggle for freedom,” he concluded.
Nehru understood the significance of the song for the nation, but sought to substitute it with another composition in the name of minor excuses as the real reason is clearly apparent in Congress politics, which has not evolved to this day.
Conclusion
Nehru and Congress, while aware of the astronomical significance of “Vande Mataram” and its incredible impact during the freedom struggle, decided to dismember and even wished to replace the song to indulge the Islamists without considering the long-term repercussions of their actions to embolden these forces.
Now, as the nation observes this pivotal occasion, it is equally necessary to understand the background and history of such vital elements of the national struggle, including how they were belittled for political motives as well as personal agendas, alongside the effect they had on the collective national conscious.
