NEW DELHI: In an apparent attack at the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said important stanzas of the national song “Vande Mataram” were dropped in 1937 which sowed the seeds of partition and asserted that such a “divisive mindset” is still a challenge for the country.
Modi made the comments after inaugurating the year-long commemoration of “Vande Mataram” to mark 150 years of the national song. He also released a commemorative stamp and coin on the occasion at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here.
“Vande Mataram became the voice of India’s freedom struggle, it expressed the feelings of every Indian. Unfortunately, in 1937, important stanzas of Vande Mataram..a part of its soul, were severed. The division of Vande Mataram also sowed the seeds of partition. Today’s generation needs to know why this injustice was done with this ‘maha mantra’ of nation building..this divisive mindset is still a challenge for the country,” he said.
Noting that “Vande Mataram” is relevant in every era, the prime minister, in an apparent reference to Operation Sindoor, said, when adversaries dared to attack India’s security and honour through terrorism, the world saw that while New India “embodies the spirit of ‘Kamala and Vimala’ in service to humanity, it also knows how to become Durga — the wielder of ten weapons — for the destruction of terror”.
On 24 January 1950, the Constituent Assembly of India officially adopted “Vande Mataram” as the national song, giving it enduring significance.
According to various accounts, a truncated version of “Vande Mataram”, keeping only the first two of the original six stanzas, was chosen as the national song in 1937 by the Congress after a committee recommended the adoption.
Earlier in the day, the BJP alleged that the Congress party “brazenly pandering to its communal agenda under the presidentship of Jawaharlal Nehru”, adopted only a truncated “Vande Mataram” as the party’s national song in 1937.
“The Congress committed the historic sin and blunder of linking the song with religion. Congress under Nehru citing religious grounds deliberately removed stanzas of Vande Mataram which hailed Goddess Ma Durga,” BJP spokesperson CR Kesavan charged in a post on X.
The Congress hit back at Prime Minister Modi after his attack on the party over the dropping of stanzas from “Vande Mataram” in 1937, saying Rabindranath Tagore himself had suggested that the first two stanzas of the song be adopted and it was “shameful” of the prime minister to accuse the Nobel laureate of harbouring a divisive ideology.
The opposition party also demanded an apology from Modi over his statement.
In his remarks at the event, the prime minister said as the country marks 150 years of “Vande Mataram”, it gives us new inspiration and fills people of the country with new energy.
“Vande Mataram is a word, a mantra, an energy, a dream, a resolve…We have to build a nation which is at the top on the basis of knowledge, science and technology,” Modi said.
He said for centuries, the world listened to stories of India’s prosperity.
“Just a few centuries ago, India accounted for nearly one-fourth of the global GDP. However, he noted that when Bankim (Chandra Chaterjee) Babu composed Vande Mataram, India had drifted far from that golden era. Foreign invasions, plunder, and exploitative colonial policies had left the country suffering with poverty and hunger,” he said.
“Yet, Bankim Babu invoked the vision of a prosperous India, driven by his belief that no matter how great the challenges, India could revive its golden age. And thus, he gave the clarion call – Vande Mataram,” Modi said.
The prime minister stated that during the colonial era, the British sought to justify their rule by portraying India as inferior and backward.
He emphasised that the very first line of “Vande Mataram” powerfully dismantled this false propaganda.
The prime minister said that for those who view the nation merely as a geopolitical entity, the idea of considering the nation as a mother may seem surprising.
“But India is different. In India, the mother is the giver of birth, the nurturer, and when her children are in danger, she is also the destroyer of evil,” Modi said.
Underlining that today, as the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat finds success, as the nation advances with the resolve of Make in India, and as “we move steadily towards the goal of a developed India by 2047”, Modi said every new achievement in this unprecedented era evokes the spontaneous chant—Vande Mataram
The Prime Minister further said, “When we see our daughters reaching the pinnacle in fields ranging from space technology to sports, when we witness them flying fighter jets, the slogan that rises from every proud Indian is—Vande Mataram!”
Noting that today marks 11 years since the implementation of ‘One Rank One Pension’, Modi stated that when India’s armed forces crush the nefarious intentions of the enemy, when terrorism, Naxalism, and Maoist insurgency are decisively defeated, our security forces proclaim—Vande Mataram.
The programme marked the launch of the year-long nationwide commemoration, celebrating 150 years of the timeless composition that inspired India’s freedom movement and continues to evoke national pride and unity. The song was written by Bankim Chandra Chatterji on the occasion of Akshaya Navami, which fell on November 7 in 1875.
