Jinnah was against Vande Mataram: Modi's speech in Lok Sabha and controversy over 150-year-old national song

The debate on the 150th anniversary of the national song 'Vande Mataram' began in the Lok Sabha on Monday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech. In his speech, Modi mentioned Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Muhammad Ali Jinnah and said that injustice has been done to 'Vande Mataram'.

During his speech, Modi said that the Muslim League was opposing 'Vande Mataram' and on October 15, 1937, Jinnah raised a slogan against it from Lucknow.

According to him, instead of responding to Jinnah's objections, Nehru himself started examining 'Vande Mataram' and wrote a letter to Subhash Chandra Bose that the background of the song could incite Muslims.

Modi alleged that on October 26, the Congress Working Committee decided to review the use of 'Vande Mataram', which was done under pressure from the Muslim League. According to him, this was the result of 'appeasement politics' which later paved the way for the partition of India.

Modi referred to Gandhi's 1905 essay in which he declared 'Vande Mataram' as the national anthem and said that the song awakens patriotism.

The Prime Minister also mentioned the Emergency and said that when the song turned 100, the country was in the chains of Emergency. He said that 'Vande Mataram' gave energy to the freedom movement and today is the time to highlight its greatness again.

While Congress leader Guru Gogoi said that it was the Congress that gave the status of 'Vande Mataram' as the national song and rejected the objections of the Muslim League.

He reminded that it was decided in the Constituent Assembly that 'Jana Guna Mana' would be the national anthem and 'Vande Mataram' would be the national son

The ‘Vande Mataram’ anthem in India has been controversial since its inception.

It is an anthem that has been the subject of controversy from time to time, but since the BJP came to power, the dispute between the ruling party and the opposition on this issue has continued.

The BJP has accused the Congress of targeting important parts of the song during the freedom struggle, while the Congress calls these allegations baseless.

On this occasion, several BJP leaders are also demanding that the singing of this song be made compulsory in educational institutions.

Several opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party, are opposing it and are arguing that the anthem should not be made compulsory.

This song was written by Bankam Chandra Chatterjee in Bengali and Sanskrit in 1875.

Bankam later included this song in his famous but controversial work ‘Anand Math’ (1885).

Last November, while inaugurating the 150th anniversary celebrations of ‘Vande Mataram’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had alleged that the Congress party had ‘deleted some important parts of Vande Mataram’ before the 1937 Faizabad session.

He then said that ‘in 1937, some important lines of Vande Mataram, which were part of its spirit, were removed. Vande Mataram was broken. Why was this injustice done? It sowed the seeds of division.’

 

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra also alleged that Nehru was ‘not comfortable’ with ‘Vande Mataram’.

In response to these allegations, Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh posted on Instagram, citing a book on Vande Mataram written by Sabya Saachi Bhattacharya, saying, "Three days before the Congress Working Committee meeting in 1937, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore himself wrote to Nehru about it. He was personally attached to Vande Mataram, and suggested that the first two stanzas be adopted. Inspired by his letter at the meeting, now Prime Minister Narendra Modi is accusing Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore of having divisive views."

Yogi government's decision and its opposition

Furthermore, on November 10, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced that his government would make the singing of 'Vande Mataram' mandatory in schools, colleges and educational institutions in the state.

On November 11, during a program to mark the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram in Barabanki district, he said, “Whoever opposes Vande Mataram is opposing Bharat Mata (Mother India).

He added, “Even today, there are some people who will live in India, eat in India, but will not sing Vande Mataram.”

Responding to this, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav said in Bareilly on November 13: “When the Chief Minister’s chair starts shaking, he becomes communal.”

He said, “We are having this debate today, didn’t the framers of the Constitution discuss it at that time, that’s why they gave the national anthem and the national song, if it was necessary for them to sing it, why wasn’t it made mandatory, they left it to the people’s choice.”

What is the history of ‘Vande Mataram’?

Bankum Chandra Chatterjee (1838-1894) was the first Indian to be appointed Deputy Collector after the British annexed the Indian colonies in 1858 by the Queen of England.

He retired in 1891 and was awarded several titles by the British rulers, including ‘Rai Bahadur’.

He wrote this song in Bengali and Sanskrit in 1875. Bankum later included it in his famous but controversial work ‘Anand Math’ (1885).

An interesting fact about this song is that all the symbols and scenes mentioned in it are related to the land of Bengal.

In this song, Bankum also mentions seven crore people, which was the total population of the province of Bengal (which included Orissa and Bihar) at that time. Similarly, when Aurobindo Ghosh translated it, he titled it ‘The National Anthem of Bengal’.

Rabindranath Tagore had also composed a beautiful tune for this song.

The partition of Bengal truly made this song the national anthem of Bengal. The public outrage against the partition of Bengal by the British government in 1905 made this song, especially its chorus, a weapon against the British.

Then, the participants in the freedom movement, including both Hindus and Muslims, used this song extensively in their protests against the British rule.

When the British army brutally attacked the provincial session of the Bengal Congress in Barisal (now in Bangladesh) under the chairmanship of farmer leader M. Rasool for singing the poem ‘Vande Mataram’, the slogan ‘Vande Mataram’ spread like wildfire throughout Bengal. Overnight, it began to resonate not only in Bengal but also throughout the country.

Freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Ram Prasad Bismil, and Ashfaqullah Khan also raised the slogan ‘Vande Mataram’.

The slogan, like ‘Inquilab Zindabad’, became a mantra of shared nationalism. By the second decade of the 20th century, the anti-British national movement had taken on a nationwide form.

Objections and solutions

In 1937, the Congress, which led the independence movement, formed a committee consisting of Gandhi, Nehru, Abul Kalam Azad and Subhash Chandra Bose to prevent partition, which invited public objections to the song.

The biggest objection was that the song defined Indian nationalism in terms of a particular religion. This question was raised not only by Muslim organizations but also by Sikh, Jain, Christian and Buddhist organizations.

With the recognition of 'Vande Mataram' as the national song of the country along with the national anthem 'Jan Gun Man', a controversy arose about it.

Muslim scholars said that since this song talks about bowing down to the mountains, rivers and land of the country, Muslims cannot sing this song because they can only bow down to God.

After much debate, the scholars decided that Muslims can sing the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram. These are the two stanzas that are actually sung during celebrations.

Unlike the national anthem 'Jan Gun Man', this national song is not remembered by most people and is rarely sung. But due to opposition from scholars and various fatwas, this song has become increasingly popular in the last few years. However, the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha demanded the adoption of the entire song, while the Muslim League opposed the entire song.

In India, a section of the public often raises slogans like 'If you want to live in India, you have to say Bande Mataram', which is synonymous with provocation and, according to some, a violation of religious freedom.

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