Watch: Vande Mataram an inspiration to create Atmanirbhar, prosperous India: Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi blamed Jawaharlal Nehru for removing lines from the 1870 song to appease Muhammad Ali Jinnah-led Muslim League
Vande Mataram is an inspiration to create Atmanirbhar Bharat and a prosperous India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday, as he initiated the discussion on the 150th anniversary of the national song in the Lok Sabha.
Modi blamed Jawaharlal Nehru for removing lines from the 1870 song to appease Muhammad Ali Jinnah-led Muslim League. “Under pressure, the Congress divided Vande Mataram, and that is why the Congress also had to buckle under pressure and partitioned India.” He said the INC (Indian National Congress) has now become MLC (Muslim League-Congress).
Modi spoke about the long-lasting impact of the song, how Vande Mataram became synonymous with India’s freedom movement, and the aspirations and hopes for generations. Modi dubbed it an unparalleled poem in world history. He said that 150 years of Vande Mataram is not just a moment to remember the past, but a source of energy and inspiration, as he ended his speech chanting Vande Mataram thrice.
“Our forefathers dreamt about an independent India. Today’s generation hopes for a prosperous India. Vande Mataram’s spirit cultivated the hopes of an Independent India. It will now support the plans for a prosperous India.”
Modi narrated the song’s history and how it was intertwined with the changing times. He added that the song shaped the nation’s character. “When India faced challenges, it moved ahead with the spirit of Vande Mataram. Today, we know how strong and resourceful we are. After 1947, the country’s priorities and challenges became different,” he said.
“Forget about what happened in the past...now, when we celebrate 15th August and 26th January or the Har Ghar Tiranga event, we see the undying spirit of Vande Mataram all around us. At one point in time, there was a food shortage. With the same spirit of Vande Mataram, our farmers filled up the repositories of foodgrains.”
Modi said that when the country’s Independence was threatened, the Constitution was ignored, and the Emergency was imposed, the same power of Vande Mataram helped the country to rise again. “Whenever the nation faced wars or external challenges, our soldiers stood firm on the frontiers with the power of Vande Mataram and hoisted the national flag. Whenever we faced a global crisis, the country has risen with the spirit of Vande Mataram and moved ahead.”
Modi linked key national ambitions, such as Viksit Bharat or Atmanirbhar Bharat, with the ideals of Vande Mataram as he recited the stanza removed from the official version. He initially referred to Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, who wrote Vande Mataram, as “Bankim da” but later changed to a more formal “Bankim babu”.
Modi said Vande Mataram manifests the power of this country. “...it depicts...culture, and mirrors our development and prosperity. Vande Mataram is not a moment to remember the past. It remains a source of energy and inspiration. We owe it to Vande Mataram.”
Modi said the devotional song will inspire India to create an Atmanirbhar Bharat, push locally-made products and to make a developed India by 2047. He highlighted the poem’s spiritual side and inspirational value in British-ruled India.
The poem was first published in a magazine in 1875 and later included in the Anandamath novel in 1882. It sought to counter the British efforts to impose Britain’s national anthem.
Modi said Vande Mataram revived the ideology embedded for ages in Indian history. “The song was not only a political mantra limited to the removal of the British, but reminds us that the freedom struggle was also a pious task to free Mother India. It reminds us of the era of the Vedas, which taught us that the land is our mother, and we are children of this plant. The same philosophy is seen when Lord Ram left wealthy Lanka. Vande Mataram is a modern avatar of India’s age-old cultural traditions.”
Modi said the song rebutted the British notion about Indians and the attempt to show them in a poor light. “Bankim challenged that thought process and language and tried to portray India’s true potential. He said Bharat Mata is a deity of knowledge and prosperity who can transform into Maa Chandi, armed with weapons, to thwart any challenges.”
Modi said these words inspired thousands of Indians, facing slavery, to realise that the fight was not for a piece of land, nor for power, but to remove the chain of slavery and revive the thousand-year-old culture and history.
He questioned why the song, which Gandhi envisaged as the national anthem, faced injustice. Modi said when the Muslim League’s opposition to Vande Mataram started growing, the then-president of Congress, Jawaharlal Nehru, was rattled. “Instead of rebutting, condemning the Muslim League and emphasising his trust and the Congress’s faith in Vande Mataram, Nehru did the opposite.”
Modi said Nehru wrote to Subhas Chandra Bose and supported Jinnah’s point of view, and said Vande Mataram can irritate Muslims. “...a meeting was held in Bankim’s Bengal and Calcutta [now Kolkata] to review the utility of Vande Mataram. The entire country opposed this proposal. But unfortunately...the Congress compromised. The decision to remove lines from Vande Mataram was done as an act of social harmony,” Modi said, and linked it to the politics of appeasement.
