Vande Mataram!

Bankimchandra Chatterjee wrote this song on November 7 1876. This song was published six years later, in his famous novel 'Anandamath'. This novel was written in context of the sanyasin (saint) movement, from which the slogan 'BANDE MATARAM'(in bengali)was originated. This movement is believed to have emerged much before the so-called first war of Independence. The sanyasins revolted against the British during the devastating Bengal famine in 1760's and the 70's, in which thousands of people were starved to death, when the British sent massive amount of food grains to England. Out of the fear of ban getting imposed on the book, Bankimchandra Chatterjee was forced to replace the British by the Mughals. But the movie (Anand Math) that was released in 1952 picturized Britishers, which reveals that the revolt was indeed against the Britishers and not against the Mughals, as written in the novel.

The first two words of this song ‘Vande Mataram’ had given a new spirit, which awakened and unified the masses during the national freedom struggle, which became a slogan for the common man, to the extent he participated in anti-British agitations. Many of the militant nationalists faced bullets or gallows with that slogan on their lips. This song gained nationwide prominence when these two words were chanted by freedom fighters opposing Viceroy Lord Curzon's 1905 vivisection of Bengal. This movement which opposed the Bengal partition is often termed as the VandeMataram Movement, which compelled the Britishers to revoke the partition in 1911. September 7, 1905 was the day on which congress adopted Vande Mataram as the national song. This year is the centenary or the completion of its 100 years (1905-2006) of this successful Vande Mataram movement and its acceptance as the national song. The govt. of India has ordered the rendition of Vande Mataram throughout the country on September 7, to celebrate the centenary of this movement. The purpose of the celebration is not only to kindle patriotic spirit in children and youth, but to acknowledge and salute all those freedom fighters who laid down their life during the freedom struggle.

In 1930s objections were raised against the song on two grounds: first, its association with Anandamath, which depicted the Muslims of the Nawabi era of the 1770s in Bengal in a poor light; second, the religious imagery and idolatry implicit in one of the stanza's of the poem. Responding to the objections, the congress working committee suggested that only the first two stanzas should be sung as they had no religious allusions. Yet again, this year there has been a controversy over the issue of its recitation. Muslims claim that “when it comes to worship only Allah is given that honour. A Muslim cannot worship his or her parents, motherland and even the Prophet though they are held in high esteem”. This interpretation is incorrect, Vande Mataram only means 'bow to the motherland' and not worshiping it. Apart from this, Indian Muslims have forgotten that the national anthems of many Islamic states do not conform to this criterion. For instance, the national anthem of Jordan venerates the King in a manner that far exceeds Vande Mataram’s bowing before a symbolic mother. The national anthem of Bangladesh, which was composed by Rabidranath Tagore uses the word mother four times and the national anthem of Indonesia is more or less a reverence to the motherland.

The song Vande Mataram (the first two stanzas) only praises the glory of the nation and if Muslims have accepted the nationality of India and they are living and enjoying the privileges of this nation as Indians, they should not have any objection to pay respect to their motherland or India, since this song has nothing to do with any religion and over and above it is not against any religion.

Let me raise another controversy here. I feel 'Vande Mataram' has all the right ingredients and words to be our national anthem instead of ‘Jana gana mana’. It outscores 'Jana gana mana' in all aspects, apart from its contribution towards the freedom struggle. It describes the true relation that we share with our motherland, a mother-child relationship. In contrary, the description of Bharath is not very satisfying in 'Jana Gana Mana'. A part from this, the most disparaging fact is that this song was composed by Tagore on the occasion of King George V's visit to the Indian National Congress in 1911, after the congress had asked Tagore for a poem of welcome. Out of his busy schedule he tried to write it, but could not. A day prior, he got up very early in the morning and wrote this beautiful poem, not one of his best. The reason that was attributed by the congress for preferring 'Jana Gana Mana' over 'Vande Mataram' sounds ridiculous, who said that Tagore's poem was easier to compose as a song and that for an anthem. The tune was more important than the words. The actual reason is quite obvious, it was only because of our secular ministers and opposition from the Muslims that 'Vande Mataram' lost the race to 'Jana Gana Mana'.

Vande Mataram..