You couldn’t miss the irony even if you wanted to. Vande Mataram, the anthemic hymn that roused a nation to demand its freedom, was fettered by political hesitation in independent India. Its full-throated ode to Bharat Mata was abridged by the Congress party, eager to placate a line of argument that questioned the very civilisational imagination of India. And so, since 1937, when Muhammad Ali Jinnah took offence, Indians have only ever sung the first two stanzas of their National Song.

Now, marking the National Song’s centenary year, the Modi government has decided to restore it to its original glory. Through a long-debated and awaited government order, singing all six stanzas of Vande Mataram has been permitted. If sung in sequence........

© News18