Paintings, tableaux and cultural representations centred on Vande Mataram formed the theme of this year’s Republic Day Parade on Kartavya Path, marking 150 years since the composition of the national song.
Prints of a series of paintings created by artist Tejendra Kumar Mitra in 1923 were displayed as view-cutters along Kartavya Path during the 77th Republic Day celebrations. The works, originally published in the Bande Mataram Album (1923), illustrated verses of Vande Mataram and were positioned along enclosure backdrops lining the parade route.
Written in 1875 by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Vande Mataram later became a rallying call during the freedom movement. The song was adopted as India’s national song by the Constituent Assembly in 1950. The sesquicentenary of the composition served as the dominant theme of the ceremonial parade this year.
The theme of the parade was ‘Swatantrata Ka Mantra - Vande Mataram’ and ‘Samriddhi ka Mantra: Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.
During the parade, around 2,500 artists performed in a choreographed dance to the tune of the Vande Mataram, which was composed by Academy Award-winning musician MM Keeravani and went beyond the usual two stanzas adopted as the national song.
{{/usCountry}}During the parade, around 2,500 artists performed in a choreographed dance to the tune of the Vande Mataram, which was composed by Academy Award-winning musician MM Keeravani and went beyond the usual two stanzas adopted as the national song.
{{/usCountry}}The West Bengal tableau also used a rendition of Vande Mataram. However, Keeravani’s version was a separate arrangement.
The national song triggered a controversy last year after a debate in Parliament, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Congress demonstrated a “colonial mentality” by removing a portion of Vande Mataram on religious grounds and asserted this act “laid the foundation for the partition of India.”
“The day the Congress decided to break and divide Vande Mataram, on that very day, it laid the foundation for the Partition of India. If the Congress hadn’t committed that sin, the picture of India today would be completely different,” Modi had said to loud protests by the Congress.
West Bengal’s tableau focused on the state’s role in the freedom movement, with Vande Mataram placed at the centre of its narrative. At the front of the tableau were representations of Chatterjee and his composition. The rear section featured Rabindranath Tagore and Khudiram Bose. Side panels displayed an archival image bearing the inscription ‘Vande Mataram, Anandamath, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’ in Bengali. The middle section included an equestrian statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, alongside a representation of Indians being beaten by colonial police. Behind this stood a sculpture of freedom fighter Matangini Hazra.
According to a note from the state government, the tableau also included a musical performance based on the original score of Vande Mataram, first sung by Rabindranath Tagore at the 1896 Congress session in Calcutta.
Gujarat’s tableau traced the link between Vande Mataram, the Swadeshi movement and the evolution of the national flag. The presentation highlighted the role of Bhikaji Cama, along with Shyamji Krishna Varma and Sardar Singh Rana, in carrying India’s freedom message abroad.
At the front of the tableau was a representation of Cama holding the Vande Mataram flag that she unfurled in Paris in 1907 and later presented at the Indian Socialist Conference in Stuttgart. The central section documented milestones in the development of the national flag, beginning with the Swadeshi movement at Parsi Bagan in Kolkata in 1906, followed by the Home Rule flag of 1917, Pingali Venkayya’s design presented to Mahatma Gandhi in 1921, developments in 1931, and the adoption of the tricolour with the Dharma Chakra by the Constituent Assembly in 1947.
Chhattisgarh’s tableau, titled ‘The Mantra of Freedom – Vande Mataram’, focused on tribal participation in the freedom struggle and referenced the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Memorial and Tribal Freedom Fighters Museum in Nava Raipur.
The ministry of housing and urban affairs, through the central public works department, presented a floral tableau marking the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram. A torch symbolised the song’s role in the freedom movement, while the rear section featured Chattopadhyay.
The ministry of culture’s tableau, titled ‘Vande Mataram – The Soul Cry of a Nation’, traced the song’s journey from composition to its role in the freedom struggle.
It featured the manuscript of Vande Mataram, depictions of India’s regions through folk performers, a performance by younger artists based on Vishnupant Pagnis’s musical arrangement, and representations of Khudiram Bose and Madan Lal Dhingra.